The  Spiritual  Life 


George  L.Raymond 


t ; 


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ST,  r  SCHOOL 

LOo       .3KLES,  CALIFOi  ''OSN!' 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  THE 
SPIRITUAL  LIFE 


SUGGESTIONS 


FOR    THE 


SPIRITUAL  LIFE 


College  Cfjapel  Calks 


BY 


GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND 

Professor  of  Oratory,  Williams   College,  1875-1881 ;  of  Oratory  and  Esthetic 

Criticism,  Princeton,  1880-1893;  of  Esthetics,  Princeton,  1893-1905; 

of  Esthetics,  George  Washington,  1905-1911 


s  ^  5  o 


- 

'.     ,  -  ><  ■     ■        ■      ■   ■     .   •    .    , 


1 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
1912 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 

(Printed  in  the  United  Statos  of  Amerioa) 
Published,  July,  1912 


.«     .      . 


*  "       *       ' 


Ts    ' 


PREFACE 

Just  why  I  have  rescued  the  contents  of  this  vol- 
ume from  the  bonfires  to  which  many  of  my  allied 
products  have  been  consigned,  and  have  decided  to 
print  it,  would  be  difficult  for  me  to  determine.  One 
can  never  be  certain  of  interpreting  correctly  his  own 
motives.  I  should  like  to  attribute  my  action  to  a 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  every  man  has  a  way 
peculiar  to  himself  of  looking  at  the  truth,  and,  by 
communicating  his  own  views  of  it,  may  become 
peculiarly  helpful  to  others  whose  mental  tempera- 
ments, processes  and  requirements  are  similar  to  his 
own.  Indeed,  as  one  of  the  friends  urging  me  to  the 
course  adopted  declared,  a  publication  doing  this 
would  be  worth  while,  even  though  it  should  meet  the 
needs  of  only  a  single  reader.  My  friend  might  have 
added — what  his  words  suggested  to  me — that  it 
might  meet  these  needs  even  though  the  motive  for 
publication  were  not  the  worthiest  possible;  even 
though  it  were  a  result  merely  of  that  itching  to  see 
one's  thoughts  in  print  which  evinces  the  besetting 
insanity,  if  not  sin,  of  minds  of  a  certain  type  not  un- 
like my  own.  My  friend  might  have  gone  on  to  say, 
too,  that  whatever  impels  one,  it  is  sometimes  wise 
for  him  to  accept  his  human  nature  exactly  as  Provi- 

5 


6  PREFACE 

dence  has  framed  it.  "We  can  not  all  be  actuated  by 
the  highest  motives.  The  next  best  thing  is  to  live 
true  to  the  highest  of  which  we  are  capable. 

With  thoughts  like  these  in  mind,  I  have  brought 
together  the  material  in  this  book.  Most  of  it  has 
been  selected  rather  than  something  else  because  be- 
longing to  the  group  of  addresses,  possessed  by  al- 
most every  one  situated  like  myself,  which  have  been 
borrowed  and  read  in  manuscript,  or  have  been  re- 
quested for  publication,  or,  after  many  years,  have 
been  remembered  in  outline  by  some  one  who  has 
heard  them,  and  supposed  them  to  have  been  instru- 
mental in  conveying  information,  in  allaying  doubt, 
in  strengthening  faith,  or  in  inciting  to  a  reform  in 
life.  Two  or  three,  I  must  confess,  have  been  included 
as  a  concession  to  the  apparent  curiosity  of  conven- 
tional thinkers  interested  in  discovering  what  kind 
of  religious  appeals  can  accompany  opinions  like 
those  suggested  by  writings  of  the  character  of 
"  Cecil  the  Seer"  or  "The  Psychology  of  Inspira- 
tion." 

I  have  tried  also  to  select  that  which,  whether 
destined  to  be  read  in  private,  or  in  gatherings  where 
no  clergyman  is  present — which  I  understand  to  be 
the  use  to  which  collections  of  this  kind  are  some- 
times put — would  be  able  to  reach  the  ordinary 
Protestant  mind  without  suggesting  objections  on  ac- 
count of  sectarian  pre-judgment.  Besides  this,  I  have 
thought  it  desirable  that,  though  embodied  in  ap- 
parently independeut  discourses,  the  whole  of  what 
is  presented  should  deal  with  important  phases  of 


PREFACE  7 

spiritual  life  with  a  certain  degree  of  consecutive- 
ness,  if  not  completeness.  These  ends  I  trust  that 
the  thoughtful  reader  will  discover  that  I  have  been 
able  to  attain. 

The  secondary  title  of  " College  Chapel  Talks"  is 
appropriate  because  about  everything  in  the  book 
has  been  used,  in  substance  at  least,  either  at  Wil- 
liams College,  or  at  Princeton  University,  at  times 
when  I  was  taking  my  turn  in  rotation  with  other 
professors,  in  conducting  the  Sunday  services.  It 
is  hardly  just  to  myself,  however,  not  to  add  that  all 
except  the  two  addresses  with  which  the  volume  ends 
were  originally  prepared  for  a  church  of  which,  be- 
fore beginning  to  teach,  I  had  charge  in  Darby  Bor- 
ough, a  suburb  of  Philadelphia.  They,  therefore, 
give  expression  to  my  thought  as  it  was  at  a  time 
when  my  mind  was  comparatively  immature.  I  am 
reminded,  however,  that  a  certain  degree  of  imma- 
turity may  increase,  rather  than  lessen,  that  which 
imparts  interest,  especially  by  way  of  appealing 
sympathetically  to  those  who  themselves  are  imma- 
ture, and  who,  as  a  rule,  make  up  the  majority  of 
hearers  or  readers.  Besides  this,  the  use  of  ma- 
terial prepared  so  long  ago  seems  almost  worth  while 
on  another  account, — on  account  of  the  incidental 
tribute  that  it  aff ords  to  the  lasting  youthfulness  and 
vitality  of  truth.  There  is  certainly  reasonable 
ground  for  satisfaction  afforded  by  the  fact  that, 
after  forty  years  in  which  there  have  been  great 
changes  in  ecclesiastical  statement  and  practise,  I 
have   not   found    it    necessary,    in    preparing   for 


8  PREFACE 

this  publication,   to  make  anywhere  any  material 
alterations. 

A  friend  suggests  that  my  methods  of  thought 
may  not  seem  antiquated  now,  for  the  same  reason 
that,  when  I  was  young,  they  seemed  advanced.  If 
of  old  they  conveyed  this  impression  to  him,  there 
may  be  something  in  his  suggestion.  But  I  certainly 
never  sought,  at  any  time  in  my  life,  to  make  them 
seem  advanced.  Nor  do  I  think  that  any  one  who 
does  seek  effects  of  this  sort,  and  nothing  beyond 
them,  will  prove,  after  a  lapse  of  years,  to  have  acted 
wisely.  Only  one  end  can  be  worthily  sought,  when 
making  any  form  of  statement.  This  is  to  have  it 
express  the  exact  truth;  and  the  permanence  of 
its  acceptableness  depends  upon  the  degree  in  which 
this  end  has  been  attained.  There  is,  however,  an 
incidental  connection  between  the  attaining  of  it  and 
having  one's  words  convey  an  impression  such  as 
my  friend  seems  to  have  received.  The  connection  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  ordinary  presentations  of  re- 
ligion involve  the  introduction  of  more  or  less  of 
what  one  has  been  taught;  and,  as  no  teachers  are 
infallible,  more  or  less  of  traditional  error.  A 
speaker  who  tries  to  avoid  the  latter  must  appear  at 
times,  for  this  reason  alone,  to  subordinate  the  old 
to  the  new — or  what  is  the  same  thing — to  the 
advanced;  and,  occasionally,  to  dwell  upon  the  lat- 
ter exclusively.  Yet,  in  this  case,  he  is  producing 
the  effect  only  indirectly.  What  he  is  trying  to  do 
directly  is  to  avoid  assertions  of  that  which,  owing 
to  lack  of  time  or  data,  he  can  not  prove;  as  well  as 


PREFACE  9 

denials  of  that  which,  owing  to  similar  reasons,  he 
can  not  disprove.  In  other  words,  he  is  trying  to 
avoid  reinforcing  the  doubt  of  cautious  seekers  after 
truth  who  have  come  to  hear  him,  and,  not  only  so, 
but  trying,  at  the  same  time,  to  increase  their  faith. 
This  latter,  certainly,  ought  always  to  be  the  chief 
object  in  preaching;  and  the  object  certainly  justifies 
advanced  methods  of  thinking,  so  far  as  these  are 
merely  incidentally  associated  with  it. 

In  view  of  such  conceptions  of  mine  with  reference 
to  the  influence  upon  faith  of  certain  methods  of 
presenting  thought,  a  few  words  more  in  this  Pref- 
ace are  relevant.  Faith,  as  every  intelligent  man 
knows,  is  an  attitude  of  mind  that  has  its  source  not 
merely  in  conscious  intellection,  but  also  in  those 
subconscious  tendencies  of  feeling  and  will  which  are 
particularly  connected,  though  no  one,  perhaps,  can 
satisfactorily  explain  exactly  how  or  why,  with  the 
spiritual  nature.  Philosophers,  as  a  rule,  recognize 
that  the  most  effective  way  of  influencing  these  ten- 
dencies is  through  using  what  is  termed  suggestion 
— in  other  words  not  through  information  or  argu- 
ment, nor,  as  applied  to  religious  truth,  through  tra- 
ditional or  dogmatic  appeals.  These  sometimes 
reach  the  conscious  understanding  only;  and,  at 
other  times,  if  they  affect  feeling  and  will,  they  do  so 
mainly  by  way  of  exciting  more  or  less  opposition. 
Suggestion  is  a  method  that  presents,  as  a  rule,  only 
such  forms  of  statement  as  the  recipient  may  be  sup- 
posed to  be  prepared  to  receive;  and,  more  fre- 
quently than  not,  therefore,  are  of  the  character  al- 


10  PREFACE 

ready  described  as  not  likely  to  reinforce  doubt. 
Contrary  to  what  might  be  supposed,  too,  from  this 
fact,  they  are  not  necessarily  negative  and  vague  in 
effect,  but  often  positive  and  definite;  and,  because 
based  upon  belief  in  kinship  between  the  human  mind 
and  the  divine,  seem  sufficient  in  themselves,  save  in 
exceptional  cases,  to  carry  on  all  the  work  in  the 
pulpit  that  the  world  needs.  Moreover,  there  are 
a  large  enough  number  of  them  to  keep  all  the  occu- 
pants of  these  pulpits  busy  from  our  day  to  dooms- 
day. These  considerations,  and  what  I  deem  the 
great  importance  of  them,  will  sufficiently  explain 
my  foremost  reason  for  choosing  as  a  title  for  this 
volume,  however  deficient  it  may  prove  as  exempli- 
fying all  that  the  phrase  implies,  "Suggestions  for 
the  Spiritual  Life." 

George  L.  Raymond. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface      5 

I:  Carnal  and  Spiritual  Mindedness     ....       17 

' '  For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death,  but  to  be  spiritu- 
ally minded  is  life  and  peace. ' ' — Bom.  8  :  6. 

II:  Divine  Sovereignty  and  Human  Service     .      .       33 

"Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou   canst  make  me  clean." — 
Mat.  8  :  2. 

Ill:  Personal   Faith   as   Grounded  on   Personal 

Observation 49 

"Believe  me  that  I  am  in  the  Father  and  the  Father 
in  me,  or  else  believe  me  for  the  very  works '  sake. ' ' — 
John  14  :  11. 

IV :  Christian  Character  Determined  by  Conduct, 

not  Knowledge 63 

"How    readest    thou?  .  .  .  This    do,    and    thou    shalt 
live."— Luke  10  :  26,  28. 

V:  Unselfish  Love  the  Culmination  of  Nature's 

Trend  in  Evolution 81 

"It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." — Acts 
20  :  35. 

VI :  Love,  the  Criterion  of  Christian  Disciple- 
ship     93 

"By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples, 
if  ye  have  love  one  to   another." — John  13  :  35. 

11 


12  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

VII:  The    Formative   Effects   of   the   Church's 

Forms 110 

"He  said  unto  them,  Go  show  yourselves  unto  the 
priests;  and  it  came  to  pass  that,  as  they  went,  they 
were  cleansed." — Luke  17  :  14. 

VIII:  How  to  Teach  Religious  Theory  and  Prac- 
tise        127 

"For  precept  must  be  upon  precept,  precept  upon  pre- 
cept, line  upon  line,  line  upon  line,  here  a  little  and 
there  a  little. '  '—Isaiah  28  :  10. 

IX:  How  to  Impart  Christian  Principles       .      .     145 

"And  the  servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive;  but  be 
gentle  unto  all  men,  apt  to  teach,  patient,  in  meekness 
instructing  those  that  oppose  themselves,  if  God,  per- 
adventure,  will  give  them  repentance  to  the  acknowl- 
edging of  the  truth. '  '—2  Tim.  2  :  24,  25. 

X:  The  Law  of  Natural  Development  as  Applied 
to  Beligion  in  General,  to  the  Church 
and   to   the    christian 157 

"But  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ." — 2  Peter  3  :  18. 

XI:  Progress  and  Conservatism  as  Elements  of 

Christian  Experience 172 

' '  Therefore  leaving  the   principles   of   the   doctrine  of 
Christ,  let  us  go  on  unto  perfection;   not   laying  again 
the  foundation." — Hebrews  6  :  1. 

XII:  How  to  Appropriate  the  Discipline  of  Dis- 
appointment   189 

"For  our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment, 
worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight 
of  glory;  while  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are 
seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen. ' ' — 2  Cor. 
4  :  17,  18. 

XIII :  Uncommon  Opportunities  in  Common  Oc- 
cupations   202 

"Fear  not,  from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men." — 
Luke  5  :  10. 


CONTENTS  13 

PAOE 

XIV:  The  Small  Fidelity  that  Precedes   Great 

Fulfilment 217 

"He  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful 
also    in   much. ' ' — Luke    16  :  10. 

XV:  The  Effectiveness  of  Unconscious  and  Pri- 
vate Influence 230 

"Where  is  the  Lord  God  of  Elijah?"— 2  Kings  2  :  14. 

XVI :  A  Kind  Heart,  the  Condition  of  a  Courage- 
ous Life 213 

"Then  Paul  answered,  What  mean  ye  to  weep  and  to 
break  mine  heart?  for  I  am  ready  not  to  be  bound  only 
but  also  to  die  at  Jerusalem  for  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus."— Acts  21  :  13. 

XVII:  The    Worldly    Inheritance    of    the    Un- 
worldly Mind 255 

"Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the 
earth.  "—Mat.   5  :  5. 

XVIII:  The   Spiritual   Solution   for   Socialistic 

Problems 272 

' '  But  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  every 
man   to   profit  withal." — 1  Cor.   12  :  7. 

XIX:  Civil   Liberty   as   a   Result   of   Christian 

Civilization 290 

"Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty." — 
2  Cor.  3  :  17. 

XX:  Memorials  and  Meeting  Places     ....     307 
"Send  me  unto  Judah  unto  the  city  of  my  fathers' 
sepulchres  that  I  may  build  it.  .  .  .  And  all  the  people 
gathered    themselves   together,"    etc. — Nehemiah    2:  :4, 
5,  6;  8  :  1,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9. 

XXI:  Belief   of   the   Heart   and  of   the   Head: 

President  McKinley  and  his  Assassin     319 
"For    with    the   heart    man    believeth    unto    righteous- 
ness. '  '—Rom.  10  :  10. 


SUGGESTIONS   FOR 
THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 


CARNAL   AND    SPIRITUAL   MINDEDNESS 

"For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death,  but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is 
life  and  peace. ' ' — Komans  8  :  6. 

The  older  anatomists  at  one  time  believed  that  they 
had  detected  a  place  in  the  brain  where  the  nerves 
of  all  the  physical  system  could  be  proved  to  con- 
centrate. "Within  that  place  sat,  as  they  thought, 
the  human  soul,  grasping  the  nerves  by  some  means 
inconceivable  to  man,  and  holding  them  as  reins  with 
which  to  guide  the  movements  of  the  body.  There 
in  a  little  cell,  itself  scarcely  detected  by  the  micro- 

^  scope,  rested,  as  they  thought,  the  heir  of  immor- 
tality. There  was  reason,  the  offspring  of  deity. 
So  long  as  a  man  was  guided  by  it,  so  long  as  all 

n  his  appetites  and  desires  were  in  subjection  to  it, 
there  was  safety.    But  should  these  grow  insubordi- 

w  nate,  should  the  steeds  bearing  the  soul's  vehicle 
through  its  earthly  course  gain  the  mastery  over  the 
driver,  and  plunge  on  wildly  without  restraint, 
nothing  could  remain  for  vehicle  or  driver  but  to  be 
dashed  to  destruction. 

Whether  or  not  these  old  theorists  were  right  as 
to  facts,  the  principle  to  which  their  theory  gave 
expression  is  a  true  one, — to  mind,  to  obey,  carnal 
things  where  one  is  influenced  from  below,  by  bodily 

17 


18        SUGGESTIONS  FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

considerations,  is  death:  to  mind  spiritual  things, 
where  the  unforeseen  forces  above  that  influence  one 
through  reason  and  the  soul  have  control,  is  life 
and  peace. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  Scriptures  to  lead  us  to 
infer  that  anyone  in  this  world  is  wholly  free  from 
the  influence  either  of  spiritual  or  of  carnal  things, — 
to  infer  that  he  is  completely  carnally  minded,  or 
completely  spiritually  minded.  The  Apostle  Paul 
says  in  one  place,  "I  am  carnal,"1  and,  in  another 
place,  to  the  Corinthian  Church,  "Ye2  are  carnal." 
The  one  could  hardly  have  been  an  apostle,  or  the 
other  a  church  unless  each  had  possessed  something 
of  the  spiritual.  In  our  text  the  writer  intimates 
that  to  be  completely  carnally  minded  is  death,  and 
to  be  completely  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace. 

The  only  way  in  which  we  can  come  to  recognize 
the  truth  of  a  statement  like  this  in  a  world  where 
none  are  wholly  carnal  or  wholly  spiritual,  is  by  no- 
ticing the  tendency,  so  far  as  we  can  trace  it,  of  each 
condition;  and  by  inferring  from  this  what  the  re- 
sult must  be  when  each  has  had  its  perfect  work. 
Let  us  try  to  do  this. 

Our  text  implies,  as  do  many  others  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  existence  of  two  sources  from  which  our 
lives  may  be  influenced, — the  one  spiritual,  the  other 
carnal.  One  may  mind,  think  about,  obey,  the  mo- 
tives addrest  to  him  from  either  source.  His  ener- 
gies may  flow  outward  with  a  spiritual  or  a  carnal 
bias.     In  this  regard,  the  soul  may  be  likened  to 

1  Rom.    7  :  14.  *  Cor.   3  :  3. 


CARNAL  AND    SPIRITUAL   M1NDEDNESS     19 

a  bird.  The  bird  may  move  through  the  air,  or 
along  the  ground.  If  it  do  the  former,  it  may  fly 
many  miles  in  a  few  minutes.  If  it  do  the  latter, 
it  may  take  many  minutes  in  which  to  walk  a  mile. 
So  with  the  soul.  One 's  energies  may  glorify  them- 
selves as  stimulated  by  the  aspirations  inspired  from 
on  high,  or  they  may  glut  themselves  as  tempted 
by  the  appetites  incited  from  below.  If  they  do  the 
former,  in  this  life  or  in  the  life  hereafter,  the  soul 
may  live  in  that  higher,  spiritual  region  in  which 
the  realities  of  a  single  day  may  become  thronged 
with  the  possibilities  of  a  thousand  years.  If  they 
do  the  latter,  the  same  soul  may  descend  to  that 
lower,  carnal  region  in  which  the  possibilities  of 
a  thousand  years  may  shrink  into  the  realities  of  a 
single  day.  Through  minding  aspiration,  one  may 
live :  through  minding  appetite,  he  may  die.  What 
do  I  mean  by  saying  this?  What  does  the  Apostle 
mean  by  saying  that  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death, 
but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace? 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  his  statement  is  literally 
true.  Probably  few  of  us  gathered  here  today  deem 
ourselves,  or  any  of  our  immediate  associates,  in 
danger  of  a  carnal  mindedness  that  shall  develop 
into  literal  death.  But  let  him  that  thinketh  he 
standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall.1  The  course  to  ruin 
is  a  subtle  one  with  all  at  first.  The  social  glass,  the 
exciting  pastime,  the  indulgence  of  any  kind,  may 
seem  far  from  dangerous.  They  may  seem  to  impart 
an  exuberance  to  one's  spirits,  and  a  positive  in- 

1  1  Cor.  10:  12. 


20        SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

spiration  to  one's  energies.  But  what  of  that?  Were 
we  in  a  row-boat  passing  by  the  eddies  of  a  whirl- 
pool, as  we  neared  the  outer  edge  of  it,  we  might 
congratulate  ourselves  upon  the  fact  that  now,  at 
last,  the  tide  was  with  us,  and  would  hasten  us  along 
our  course.  So  we  might  relax  our  hold  upon  our 
oars.  But  would  our  action,  though  we  were  ignor- 
ant of  its  consequences,  interfere  with  the  laws  of 
nature?  Would  it  stay  the  power  sucking  under- 
neath the  keel, — those  forces  grappling  at  the  in- 
truder with  a  strength  that,  by  and  by,  no  human  ef- 
fort could  resist,  and  destined  to  drag  our  boat 
downward  into  the  vortex?  Not  to  speak  of  the  loss 
of  health,  nerve-power,  self  command,  and  the  grad- 
ual decay  of  physical  strength  which,  as  we  know, 
follow  early  indulgence  as  a  shadow  does  its  sub- 
stance;— not  to  speak  of  the  general  fact,  which 
every  man  in  middle  life  finds  to  be  true,  that  the 
wicked  do  not  live  out  half  their  days, — this  audi- 
ence contains  few  of  long  experience  who  can  not  re- 
call more  than  one  young  person — I  can  recall  one 
at  this  moment  who  was  with  me  in  college — appar- 
ently as  high-minded,  as  pure,  certainly  as  inexpe- 
rienced in  personal  contact  with  vice,  as  any  who 
are  present  here,  whom  a  single  night  begun  with 
evil  companions,  and  a  careless  glass  of  strong 
drink,  has  thrust,  without  the  intervention  of  a  sin- 
gle vestibule  to  give  warning  of  the  danger,  into 
the  very  throne-room  of  corruption,  entailing  taint 
simply  irremediable, — not  only  to  the  brain  but  to 
the  blood,  not  only  to  the  soul  but  to  the  body,  bring- 


CARNAL  AND   SPIRITUAL   MINDEDNESS     21 

ing  not  only  disease  but  death.  To  one  who  wan- 
ders where  vice  is  contagions,  who  minds — attends 
to — it,  literal  physical  death  may  be  much  nearer 
than  he  conceives  to  be  possible. 

But  our  text  alludes  to  something  more  disastrous 
than  the  death  of  merely  the  body.  It  alludes,  as  we 
see  clearly  from  the  context,  to  the  death  of  those 
powers,  both  of  mind  and  of  soul,  of  which  the 
body  is  but  the  instrument.  And  a  moment's  re- 
flection will  show  us  that  the  statement  that  to  be 
carnally  minded  is  death  or,  as  I  have  paraphrased 
it,  tends  to  death,  is  literally  true  as  applied  to 
these  also.  Consider  a  man  intellectually.  Mental 
action  of  the  highest  character — i.  e.,  rational  action 
— implies  choice, — the  separation,  for  reasons  that 
appeal  to  the  mind,  of  one  from  many  possible 
courses,  and  the  rejection  of  all  except  this  one.  But 
now,  just  as  soon  as  a  man  comes  under  the  control 
of  any  besetting  sin,  becomes  a  gambler  or  drunkard, 
whatever  it  may  be,  does  he  not,  so  far  as  concerns 
his  action  with  reference  to  this  besetting  sin,  cease 
'  to  be  a  rational  creature?  In  the  presence  of  this 
particular  temptation,  does  he  not  act  as  irrationally 
as  the  steed  led  out  of  his  burning  stable  at  midnight 
when  he  breaks  his  halter  and  plunges  back  again 
into  the  flames!  Not  only  does  no  spiritual  motive 
lead  him  to  deny  himself  present  indulgence  because 
he  has  chosen,  instead  of  it,  greater  good  in  the 
world  to  come ;  but  no  intellectual  motive  any  longer 
causes  him  to  choose  a  greater  good  in  the  future 
of  this  world.    To  be  carnally  minded,  so  far  as  he 


22        SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

is  such,  is  death  to  him  intellectually.  Though  he 
may  know  what  is  best  for  him,  this  fact  does  not 
influence  his  will.  In  truth,  he  scarcely  balances  his 
motives  at  all ;  makes  any  choice  whatever.  He  acts 
precisely  like  the  brute,  when,  of  two  bones  placed 
before  him,  he  takes  the  one  nearest  him,  whether 
or  not  it  has  the  most  meat  on  it.  The  man  who 
is  carnally  and  not  spiritually  minded  seeks  to 
gratify  himself  by  indulging  in  whatever  may  hap- 
pen to  be  nearest  at  hand.  Because  he  yields  re- 
peatedly to  this  temptation,  by  and  by,  usually,  he 
forms  a  habit  of  immediate  indulgence  regardless 
of  future  consequences.  And,  if  this  habit  be  formed, 
that  general  tendency  which  characterizes  all  ra- 
tional action,  and  gives  one  success  as  a  rational 
creature — that  general  tendency  which  causes  a  man 
to  deny  himself  in  the  present  for  the  sake  of  future 
good — makes  him  in  youth  honest,  industrious  and 
energetic  so  that  his  age  may  enjoy  wealth,  position 
or  fame, — that  tendency  becomes  dead  within  him. 
To  be  carnally  minded  is  death  to  that  which  makes 
a  man  act  rationally. 

But  let  us  go  on;  rational  action,  besides  being 
influenced  by  the  operation  of  analysis  which  sepa- 
rates one  course  of  action  from  others,  is  influenced, 
at  the  same  time,  by  that  which  underlies  and  deter- 
mines the  principle  in  accordance  with  which  the  one 
course  rather  than  the  other  is  chosen.  "We  may  de- 
scribe this  principle  as  the  synthetic  power  of  the 
constructive  imagination,  a  power  which,  when  stim- 
ulated by  considerations  of  what  is  above  and  beyond 


CARNAL  AND    SPIRITUAL   MINDEDNESS     23 

one,  can  cause  the  mind  ideally  to  apprehend  and 
make  real  to  itself  experiences  properly  belonging 
to  another,  future  or  higher,  state  of  existence.  For 
my  own  part,  I  can  hardly  conceive  of  any  joy  that 
could  be  left  to  life,  if  one  were  bereft  of  this  power. 
It  is  this,  more  than  anything  else,  that  causes  the 
common  practicalities  of  every-day  experience  to 
become  bearable.  It  is  this  that  brings  to  the  eyes 
that  bewildered  look  that  is  so  beautiful  in  childhood, 
as  it  gazes  out  upon  a  world  with  full  faith  in  the 
unseen  future  good  behind  the  veil  of  visible  reality. 
It  is  this  that  dawns  with  a  glamour  of  romance 
about  the  hope  of  early  manhood.  It  is  this  that 
shines  with  its  soft  radiance  of  almost  heavenly  pu- 
rity about  the  quiet  confidence  that  pervades  a  loving 
home.  It  is  this  that  pours  down  with  a  more  than 
noonday  splendor  upon  hill  and  vale  and  stream 
and  meadow,  while  above,  about,  beneath  them  all, 
the  soul  discovers  by  "that  light  which  never  was 
on  land  or  sea,"  vague  outlines  of  a  place  of  rest 
*  filled  with  glories  which  "eye  hath  not  seen,1  nor 
ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man."  But  where  is  this  life  of  the  ideal,  this  ap- 
prehension and  realization  of  good  not  seen,  to  one 
who  has  formed  a  habit  of  ignoring  it,  under  the  de- 
lusion that  he  can  satisfy  with  real  objects — carnal 
and  finite — the  desires  of  his  soul  for  that  which  is 
spiritual  and  infinite?  As  often  as  we  see  the  hope- 
ful faces  of  the  children,  and  contrast  them  with  the 
vacant  stare  of  so  many  of  their  elders, — see  gentle 

1 1  Cor.  2 :  9. 


24        SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

sensibility  turned  into  gross  sensuality,  generous 
sympathy  into  crafty  selfishness,  high  aspiration 
into  low  avariciousness,  we  can  realize  that  it  is  lit- 
erally true  that  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death  to 
ideal  life. 

And  if  it  be  death  to  ideal  life,  it  soon,  from  this 
very  fact,  comes  to  be  the  death  of  all  that  can 
stimulate  the  real  vitality,  or  enhance  the  real  en- 
joyment, of  the  spiritual  nature,  which,  underlying 
the  merely  intellectual  nature,  probably  renders  the 
ideal  life  possible.  Let  us  recall  the  elements  of 
this  spiritual  life.  There  is  faith, — a  feeling  that 
can  be  exercised  toward  a  fellow  being  as  well  as 
toward  God.  To  say  nothing  about  the  attitude  of 
anyone's  soul  toward  God,  of  which  none  of  us  can 
know  certainly,  did  you  ever  see  a  mean  or  vicious 
man  who  had  much  faith  in  the  goodness  or  virtue 
of  his  fellows?  There  is  hope, — did  you  ever  see 
one  of  such  a  character  who  had  much  hope  for  him- 
self or  for  the  race?  There  is  love, — did  you  ever 
see  a  confirmed  gambler  or  debauchee — any  one  who 
had  disregarded  the  claims  of  his  own  higher  nature 
— who  had  much  regard  for  the  claims  of  others 
upon  himself?  Did  he  care,  or  really  care  to  care, 
for  his  wife  or  children?  Then  there  is  the  kind  of 
service  rendered  to  God  and  to  man  which  is  the 
expression  of  love  within.  Isn't  it  almost  absurd 
to  speak  of  the  gratitude,  fidelity,  integrity,  gene- 
rosity of  a  thoroughly  vicious  man?  Ah,  faith,  hope, 
love,  and  all  that  is  characteristic  of  a  life  of  love, 
are  dead  within  such  a  character.    And  the  carnally 


CARNAL   AND    SPIRITUAL    M1NDEDNESS     25 

minded  man,  who  manifests  none  of  these  better 
traits  towards  others, — how  can  he  expect  to  receive 
from  them  that  confidence,  encouragement,  sympathy 
and  help  which  he  who  receives  them  knows  to  be 
the  ones  that  embody  the  only  experiences  in  this 
world  which  are  capable  of  really  satisfying  the  soul? 
And  now  notice,  friends,  that  the  death  of  physical 
vitality,  of  rationality,  of  ideality,  and  of  all  those 
higher  activities  fitted  to  satisfy  the  deeper  cravings 
of  the  spirit,  follow,  as  inevitable  results,  upon  in- 
dulgences that  seem  to  be  very  slight  at  the  begin- 
ning. The  truth  is,  that  our  minds  are  not  as  passive 
as  are  mirrors.  They  can  not  be  made  to  reflect  one 
kind  of  life,  and  then  be  turned  somewhere  else,  and 
be  made  to  reflect,  with  equal  accuracy,  another  al- 
together different  kind  of  life.  They  are  more  like 
the  glasses  used  by  photographers,  where  the  view 
once  taken  remains  to  nullify  or  modify  all  future 
views.  A  fearful  truth  is  this !  Each  sin  indulged 
leaves  its  image  somewhere  in  the  character.  That 
image  is  revealed  by  memory  wherever  any  new 
scenes  turn  the  thoughts  in  a  direction  suggestive 
of  that  sin.  The  medium  through  which  one  views 
the  new  already  bears  the  impress  of  the  old.  There- 
fore to  the  pure,  all  things  are  pure,  and  to  the  im- 
pure all  things  may  become  impure.  A  man  who 
never  has  contracted,  for  instance,  a  drunkard's  ap- 
petite, so  far  as  concerns  any  consciousness  of  any 
tendency  toward  intoxication  on  his  own  part,  may 
be  an  absolutely  free  man.  He  may  go  where  he 
chooses,  and  do  what  he  chooses,  without  any  ap- 


26         SUGGESTIONS   FOB    SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

prehension  of  temptation  to  himself,  or  of  being  in 
a  situation  where  he  is  running  a  risk, — where  he  is 
in  the  presence  of  threatened  danger.  But  suppose 
that  a  man  has  been  a  drunkard ;  seldom,  after  that, 
can  he  even  see  the  foam  and  sparkle  in  the  glass 
without  a  consciousness  of  something  near  at  hand 
that  may  sting  like  a  serpent  and  bite  like  an  adder. 
And  this  is  not  a  law  applicable  to  one  vice  only. 
It  is  applicable  to  all  vices.  Delirium  tremens  is  not 
the  only  disease  in  which  the  weakened  nerves  see 
serpents  writhing  where  others  see  nothing.  There 
are  those  to  whose  corrupted  imaginations  every 
pleasure  in  the  world  is  simply  an  embodiment,  fig- 
urative, if  not  literal,  of  that  old  serpent.  To  some 
there  is  never  any  sacredness  in  beauty  or  grace,  the 
most  elevating.  They  live  in  no  need  of  the  debauch 
to  corrupt  them.  There  is  equal  food  for  evil  desire 
in  their  own  homes,  or  in  the  church.  Why,  all 
over  the  earth,  friends,  God  has  placed  inexhaustible 
springs  of  pleasure,  sparkling  to  refresh  our  thirsty 
spirits.  The  vicious  view  these  as  thru  microscopes 
'that  cause  each  drop  they  gaze  upon  to  teem  with 
vermin.  And  so,  to  prove  that  to  be  carnally  minded 
is  death,  it  is  not  necessary  to  lift  the  veil  that  hides 
this  world  from  the  next.  To  say  no  more,  the  pre- 
sumption is  that  the  same  conditions  exist  there 
that  exist  here,  and  who,  if  he  could  avoid  it,  would 
live  in  this  world  the  life  that  some  have  made  for 
themselves, — drinking  in  poison  with  every  drop  of 
pleasure,  listening  to  a  siren's  spell  in  every  sound 
of  sweetness,  perceiving,  in  all  things  about  them, 


CARNAL  AND   SPIRITUAL   MINDEDNESS     27 

that  which  lures  them  to  danger  and  to  death, — their 
whole  existence  almost  literally  lighted  up  by  the 
flames  of  hell  rather  than  by  the  sun  of  heaven !  Let 
him  then  who  is  free  from  the  taint  of  vice,  for  the 
sake  of  his  own  future  comfort,  remain  so.  Other- 
wise, he  may  lose  the  pleasures  which  are  most  de- 
sirable in  this  world.  More  than  this,  he  may  lose 
the  possibility  of  enjoying  even  those  things  that 
he  has  chosen  instead  of  them.  The  time  may  come 
for  him  when  everything  in  which  it  is  any  longer 
possible  for  him  to  take  pleasure  may  appeal  to 
his  experience  as  the  winecup  to  the  drunkard, — one 
glance,  one  grasp  of  the  glass,  one  quaff,  then  an- 
other and  another, — with  only  the  briefest  moment 
between  the  hope  of  exhilaration  and  complete  in- 
sensibility. To  be  carnally  minded  in  this  world 
as  well  as  in  the  next,  may  mean  death  to  all  en- 
joyment. 

And  not  only  to  enjoyment  that  is  physical,  but 
death  to  all  that  which,  for  intellect  or  for  spirit, 
can  make  life,  anywhere  that  it  happens  to  be,  worth 
living.  You  remember,  perhaps,  the  old  Greek  story 
of  how  Ulysses  caused  his  sailors  to  stop  up  their 
ears  as  they  neared  the  land  of  the  sirens  whose 
sweet  song  had  allured  to  their  shores  so  many 
others  who  had  passed  that  way  to  be  welcomed  only 
with  destruction;  and  how,  thus  prepared  for  the 
danger,  his  crew  sailed  safely  by  it.  So  long  as  men 
keep  from  hearing,  from  minding,  from  obeying  the 
calls  of  vice  of  any  kind,  they  are  like  the  sailors 
of  Ulysses.     Their  souls  are  safe  from  the  spells 


28         SUGGESTIONS   FOB    SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

that  otherwise  might  make  shipwreck  of  them.  The 
opportunity  for  indulgence  may  excite  their  cu- 
riosity, but  this  feeling  is  essentially  different  in 
kind  from  the  temptation  experienced  after  the  first 
indulgence.  This,  if  it  do  not  open  a  new  sense,  whet 
a  new  appetite,  at  least  tears  the  garment  of  up- 
rightness, and  the  man  knows  that  it  can  never  again 
be  what  it  was.  It  is  all  over  with  him  now.  That 
first  step,  the  easiest  to  resist,  if  taken,  proves  to  be 
the  fatal  one. 

And  so  I  know 

Tho   heaven  may   show 

Some  mercy  for  all, 

No   matter  how   small 

Their  love  for  the  good  and  the  sure, 

Our  first  cure  of  sin 

Is  not  to  begin 

To  think  of  things  that  allure, 

But  to  keep  the  memory  pure. 

The  easiest  way  not  to  experience  the  ends  of  evil 
is  to  resist  the  beginnings  of  evil. 

But  some  of  us,  perhaps,  have  not  resisted  these 
beginnings  of  evil.  We  have  yielded.  Again  and 
again,  we  have  yielded  to  temptation.  Others  of  us 
are  aware  that,  altho  we  have  not  yet  fallen  into 
flagrant  evil,  we  are  standing  upon  the  brink  of  its 
precipice.  Who  is  there  here  who  does  not  know 
that,  notwithstanding  his  best  endeavors  to  the  con- 
trary, his  lower  nature  has  a  constant  tendency,  at 
least,  to  assert  itself?  How  many  are  there  who  are 
not  conscious  that  the  germs  of  this  disease  of  carnal 
mindedness,  in  its  very  worst  forms,  are  already 
working  within  them?     If  so,  what  then?     Then, 


CARNAL  AND    SPIRITUAL   MINDEDNESS     29 

friends,  the  question  is, — do  we  not  need  something 
that  shall  cure  this  disease?  Where  is  the  physician 
who  can  do  it?  What  are  the  means  through 
which  he  can  accomplish  it?  In  the  same  chapter 
in  which  our  text  occurs,  the  apostle  gives  us  his 
experience  as  an  answer  to  such  questions.  "The 
law  1  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,"  he  says, 
"hath  made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death. 
If  the  spirit 2  of  him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the 
dead  dwell  in  you,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "he  that 
raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead  shall  also  quicken 
your  mortal  bodies  by  his  spirit  that  dwell  eth  in 
you."  There  is  no  need  of  giving  a  theological 
interpretation  to  these  words.  In  common  language, 
men  often  speak  of  the  fact  that  students  in  some 
lecture  room,  soldiers  on  some  battle-field,  catch  the 
spirit  of  their  teacher  or  leader;  by  which  is  meant 
that  in  view  of  the  presentation  before  them  of  a 
certain  mode  of  thought  or  of  action,  the  students 
or  the  soldiers  have  become  inspired  to  feel,  think 
and  do  as  the  teacher  or  leader  does.  So  the  Bible 
represents  to  us  that  we  all,  in  view  of  the  words 
and  works,  the  life  and  death  of  him  who,  as  the 
highest  ideal  of  spiritual  life  of  which  we  can  con- 
ceive, may  be  said  to  be  the  "image  3  of  the  invisible 
God," — we  all  "beholding4  in  him  as  in  a  glass"  the 
love  and,  therefore,  "the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are 
changed  into  the  same  image";  i.  e.,  may  become 
inspired  to  feel,  to  think,  and  to  act,  as  he  did;  we 
may  come  to  have  in  us  the  same  spirit  that  was  in 

1  Rom.  8:2.  *  Rom.  8:11.        3  Col.  1  :  15.  *  2  Cor.  3  :  18. 


30         SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

him;  we  may  come  to  mind  this  spirit,  and,  thus,  to 
be  spiritually  minded,  which  the  latter  part  of  our 
text  declares  to  be  "life  and  peace." 

For,  friends,  when — to  use  the  same  term  that  we 
have  already  employed — we  come,  in  view  of  what 
we  have  known  of  the  Master,  to  catch  his  spirit, 
what  does  this  imply?  Why,  it  implies,  on  the  very 
threshold,  that  we  begin  to  have  faith,  faith  in  God 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  implies  also  that 
we  begin  to  have  hope, — for  ' '  faith  *  is  the  substance 
of  things  hoped  for."  It  implies,  too,  that  we  begin 
to  have  love,  not  only  for  him  who  died  for  us,  but 
for  all  those  for  whom  he  died;  for  we  argue  that, 
"if  God2  so  loved  us,  we  ought  also  to  love  one  an- 
other." And  it  implies,  in  addition,  that  we  begin 
to  manifest  the  service  which  is  the  expression  of 
love, — gratitude,  fidelity,  integrity,  generosity.  It 
implies,  thus,  the  beginnings  of  new  life  in  those  ele- 
ments of  faith,  hope,  love  and  service  which,  as  has 
just  been  said,  it  is  the  tendency  of  carnal  minded- 
ness  to  destroy. 

But  more, — with  the  quickening  of  these  spiritual 
activities,  to  the  man  who  has  begun  to  be  spiritually 
minded,  comes  a  quickening  also  of  the  distinctively 
intellectual  activities.  One  can  never  live  a  life  in- 
spired by  faith,  hope  and  love  without  having  his 
understanding  opened  to  that  which  is  beyond  him ; 
nay  more,  without  having  the  heavens  opened  to 
that  which  is  above  him.  For  such  a  man,  anticipa- 
tion, inspiration,  and  all  the  powers  of  the  imagina- 

1  Heb.  11:1.  '  1  Jno.  4  :  11, 


CARNAL  AND   SPIRITUAL   MINDEDNESS     31 

tion,  burst  thro  the  darkness  and  the  clouds  that 
have  gathered  like  shrouds  over  the  dying  soul  of 
the  carnal  minded,  till  his  real  life,  from  horizon  to 
zenith,  is  made  bright  by  the  starlight  and  the  sun- 
light of  an  ideal  life.  Still  again,  while,  inspired 
by  these  views,  the  man  learns  to  "  set 1  his  affection 
on  things  above,  and  not  on  things  on  the  earth"; 
while,  as  he  presses  2  "toward  the  mark  for  the  prize 
of  the  high  calling  of  God,"  he  chooses  those  things 
that  are  beyond;  he  cultivates  those  habits  of 
self-denial  in  view  of  temptation  to  present  indul- 
gence, and  of  continued  perseverance  in  well-doing 
which  accompany,  as  has  been  shown,  the  highest 
forms  of  rational  activity.  And,  once  more,  these 
high  aims  for  which  he  strives  cause  him  to  subordi- 
nate all  the  energies  of  his  physical  nature  to  the 
interest  of  the  nature  which  is  above  it,  and,  so  far 
as  he  does  this,  the  powers  of  his  body  will  neither 
faint  nor  fail  on  account  of  too  great  abstinence  or 
indulgence.  He  will  become  neither  ascetic  nor  dis- 
sipated. For  him  to  be  spiritually  minded  will  mean 
life  not  only  for  the  spirit,  but  also  for  the  mind 
and  body, — a  life,  too,  insuring  peace  because  of  that 
consciousness  of  safety,  and  that  absence  of  conflict 
invariably  accompanying  healthful  and  harmonious 
action  in  all  the  different  departments  of  the  being. 
For  him  godliness  will  prove  to  be  "profitable  unto 
all3  things,"  for  "the  life  that  now  is,"  and  for 
"that  which  is  to  come."  My  friends,  especially 
you  who  are  just  entering  upon  life, — is  there  one  of 

*  Col.  3:2.  2  Phil.  3:14.  *  1  Tim.  4  :  8. 


32        SUGGESTIONS  FOB  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

you  who  does  not  wish  to  do,  and  to  have,  and  to  he 
that  which  shall  accomplish  the  most  for  his  whole 
nature,  physical,  intellectual,  spiritual1?  This  is  the 
question  presented  to  us  by  our  text.  What  is  to 
he  our  answer? 

Guides  in  the  Alps  tell  us  that,  as  they  are  jour- 
neying up  over  the  ice  along  some  narrow  pathway 
that  girdles  a  mountain  precipice,  they  sometimes 
hear  the  sounds  of  objects  falling  into  the  abyss  be- 
low, or  see  their  shadows  moving  downward  over 
the  snows  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  valley.  Then 
they  say  that  they  dare  not  look  at  the  falling  object 
nor  at  its  shadow.  There  is  danger,  if  they  do  so, 
that  their  bodies  may  follow  the  direction  of  their 
eyes, — that  they  may  lean  over  too  far,  may  lose 
their  balance,  and  be  dashed  to  pieces  in  the  depths 
below.  Their  only  safety  comes  from  keeping  their 
gaze  fixed  steadily  on  the  pathway  before  them 
which  leads  them  upward  and  onward.  My  friends, 
our  only  safety  in  the  journey  of  life  is  in  learning 
not  to  direct  our  attention  to  the  things — not  to  mind 
— the  things  that  lead  us  to  look  downward,  but 
to  keep  our  eyes  fixed  steadily  on  that  which  leads 
us  upward  and  onward. 


n 

DIVINE  SOVEREIGNTY  AND  HUMAN  SERVICE 

"When  he  was  come  down  from  the  mountain,  great  multitudes  fol- 
lowed him.  And  behold  there  came  a  leper  and  worshipped  him,  saying 
Lord,  if  thou  wilt  thou  canst  make  me  clean.  And  Jesus  put  forth 
his  hand  and  touched  him,  saying,  I  will,  be  thou  clean.  And  imme- 
diately his  leprosy  was  cleansed. — Mat.  8  :  1,  2,  3. 

The  unity  of  the  universe  is  the  most  prominent 
conception  suggested  by  the  term  that  we  apply  to 
it;  and  one  of  the  most  common  methods  through 
which  we  are  led  to  recognize  this  unity  is  through 
remarking  the  uniformity  of  law  evident  under  its 
multiformity  of  manifestations.  Thus,  for  instance, 
the  same  method  of  development  may  be  traced  both 
in  the  smallest  plant  and  in  the  largest  tree,  in 
the  most  insignificant  animal  and  in  man.  Accord- 
ingly, we  can  be  led  to  apprehend  the  general  fea- 
tures of  the  phenomena  of  growth  as  well  through 
examining  them  in  the  one  as  in  the  other  of  these 
specimens.  This  principle  furnishes  the  basis  of  all 
trustworthy  speculation  with  reference  to  spheres 
of  material  or  spiritual  existence  beyond  the  limits 
of  our  own  vision.  However  broad  may  be  the  range 
of  our  investigation,  we  can  not  get  rid  of  the  ideas 
that  our  globe  is  a  miniature  universe  and  our  earth 
a  miniature  heaven.    Magnify  the  forms  of  the  one, 

33 


34        SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

glorify — make  holy — the  experiences  of  the  other, 
and  you  have  swelled  the  comprehension  of  the 
human  mind  to  its  utmost  capacity.  The  shadows 
on  the  surface  of  the  moon  can  seldom  seem  to  have 
another  source  than  deep-sunk  seas  or  lefty  moun- 
tains, as  would  be  the  case  with  similar  shadows  on 
the  earth.  The  brightness  shining  from  beyond  the 
grave  can  seldom  seem  to  be  attributable  to  another 
cause  than  one  like  streets  of  gold  and  gates  of 
pearl :  in  a  celestial  city.  Let  the  seers '  descriptions 
stand  then.  They  are  less  fanciful  than  philosophi- 
cal, and  not  one  whit  less  rational  than  scriptural. 
Whatever  may  be  true  of  those  who  live  amid  ex- 
joeriences  of  an  existence  of  which  we  know  and  can 
know  nothing,  for  us  no  material  magnitude,  no 
spiritual  magnificence,  is  conceivable,  save  as  we  use 
the  scope  of  present  vision.  This  is  the  glass 
through  which,  gazing  dimly,  the  mind  of  wonder 
and  of  worship  must  commune  with  every  broader 
mystery. 

This  principle,  by  which  we  find  some  general  law 
exhibited  in  many  different  special  cases,  enables  us 
often  to  detect  in  the  doings  of  Jesus  a  significance 
far  more  important  than  the  careless  reader,  at  first, 
might  discover  there.  Here,  for  instance,  is  the  story 
contained  in  our  text, — aside  from  thoughts  sug- 
gested by  it,  a  very  simple  story  told  in  a  few  words. 
But,  aside  from  thoughts  suggested  by  it,  do  you 
suppose  that  the  story,  where  it  is,  would  have  been 
told  at  all?    I  can  go  further.    Aside  from  thoughts 

1  Eev.  21  :  21. 


SOVEREIGNTY    AND    SERVICE  35 

suggested  by  it,  do  you  suppose  that  anything  in 
the  universe  would  have  been  made  or  done?  Are 
not  material  objects,  all  of  them,  the  caskets  in  which 
divine  wisdom  has  locked  its  treasures  for  the  mind 
of  man?  Are  they  not,  all  of  them,  the  caskets  which 
man,  on  his  side,  must  unlock  before  he  can  discover 
that  with  which  his  Maker  intends  to  enrich  the  soul ! 
I  think  that  I  am  right  about  it ;  for  if  man  have  not 
a  key  to  gain  an  opening  to  some  deeper  truth  than 
appears  upon  the  surface,  then  in  what  is  he  exalted 
above  the  brute,  blessed  by  the  beauty  of  the  flower 
and  the  bounty  of  the  fruit,  in  so  far  only  as  he  is 
attracted  near  to  seize  and  to  devour  them.  Nay, 
rather  than  to  hold  so  groveling  a  conception,  let  us 
be  deluded,  if  need  be,  into  an  assurance  that  every- 
thing on  earth,  material  or  immaterial,  needs  alone 
the  touchstone  of  an  ardent  thought,  and  then  shall 
spring  into  the  outlines  of  a  spiritual  reality  as  new 
and  beautiful  to  the  soul  as  were  the  portals  and  the 
pinnacles  of  the  palace  looming  high  in  air  to  him 
who  held  in  his  hand  the  fabled  lantern  of  Aladdin ; 
let  us  believe  what  intuition  indicates, — that  every 
single  fact  or  form  has  an  import — an  importance — 
no  less  than  that  which  should  be  attached  to  uni- 
versal truth  revealed  in  miniature. 

In  accordance  with  this  principle,  let  us  examine 
the  attitude  of  mind  possessed  by  the  leper  of  our 
story  when  desiring  the  great  Master  to  cure  him  of 
his  physical  disorder,  and  notice  what  lessons  can 
be  drawn  from  it  with  reference  to  what  should  be 
the  attitude  of  mind  possessed  by  those  desiring  to 


36         SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

be  cured  of  spiritual  disorders, — of  the  disease  of 
sin.  In  the  case  of  the  leper,  there  are  two  concep- 
tions of  his  important  to  observe, — the  first  ex- 
pressed in  the  words,  ''thou  canst  make  me  clean," 
and  the  second  in  the  words,  "Lord,  if  thou  wilt." 

The  words,  "thou  canst  make  me  clean"  gave  ex- 
pression to  a  form  of  faith  within  him  founded  on 
evidence, — on  what  others  had  said, —  on  the  same 
kind  of  evidence  that  all  of  us  may  derive  to-day 
from  what  we  have  heard  of  the  influence  upon  cer- 
tain persons  of  whom  we  know  of  the  truth  and  the 
life  of  Jesus.  This  faith,  and  the  evidence  on  which 
it  is  founded,  is  not  of  the  strongest  kind,  but  for 
men  today,  as  for  this  leper,  it  may  be  sufficiently 
strong  for  the  immediate  purjDose.  Very  likely,  there 
are  many  of  us  here  present  who,  could  we  analyze 
correctly  our  own  motives,  could  attribute  to  a  simi- 
lar form  of  evidence  our  own  individual  belief  in 
whatever  spiritual  influences  we  associate  with  our 
conceptions  of  God,  of  the  Christ,  or  of  Christianity. 
Some  of  us,  however,  before  we  can  exercise  even  this 
kind  of  faith,  desire  something  more ; — we  desire  to 
have  the  cure  needed  appear  to  be  not  only  possible 
but  probable.  Is  there  any  way  in  which  it  can  be  made 
to  appear  so?  This  is  the  question  that  suggested  the 
line  of  thought  that  I  am  to  present  this  morning. 

Sin  is  a  matter  of  thought,  feeling  and  will,  the  lat- 
ter including  inclinations  and  desires.  A  man  is  con- 
scious that  he  is  responsible  for  these  as  well  as  for 
outward  acts.  How  can  any  influence  outside  of  self 
change  and  control  both  opinions  and  tendencies, 


SOVEREIGNTY    AND    SERVICE  37 

both  thought  and  will?  This  seems  to  be  the  funda- 
mental question  here.  In  answering  it,  one  can  only 
say,  in  the  first  place,  that  any  method  of  exerting 
such  influence  involves  a  mystery  beyond  our  com- 
prehension. Yet  it  is  no  more  mysterious  than  many 
other  things  that  are  done.  How  can  any  power 
make  a  green,  thorny  bush,  by  no  means  a  beautiful 
object,  blossom  all  over  with  roses?  To  do  this  is 
just  as  wonderful  as  it  is  to  make  a  character  imma- 
ture and  disagreeable  exhibit  the  mature  and  genial 
development  of  a  loving,  Christian  spirit.  But,  in 
the  second  place,  altho  the  general  method  is  above 
solution,  there  are  some  analogies  that  come  within 
the  circle  of  our  experience  which  may  enable  us 
to  approach  toward  a  solution.  Altho  we  can 
not  comprehend,  they  may  enable  us  to  apprehend 
the  truth.  As  a  fact,  there  are  many  instances  in  this 
world  in  which  it  is  clearly  evident  that  one  mind  or 
will  has  completely  mastered,  and  is  controlling,  an- 
other mind  or  will.  We  have  most  of  us  heard,  prob- 
ably, of  illustrations  of  this  kind  of  control  exerted 
by  what  is  termed  hypnotism,  and  exerted,  too,  in 
connection  not  only  with  changes  wrought  in  thought 
and  action,  but — what  causes  it  to  be  suggested  by 
this  case  of  the  leper — with  effecting  cures  of  physi- 
cal diseases.  That  the  method  is  mental  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that,  when  receiving  the  cures,  the  patient 
is  often  made  to  see,  hear  and  do,  not  what  his  own 
will,  as  influenced  by  actual  conditions  surrounding 
him  determines,  but  what  the  will  of  the  hypnotizer, 
without  reference  to  the  surroundings,  determines. 

<£3  3-5"0 


38        SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

Hypnotism  and  its  cures,  however,  appear,  prob- 
ably, to  most  of  us  more  or  less  unsubstantiated  by 
facts.  I  am  not  here  to  argue  the  existence  of  these 
facts,  but  merely  to  say  that,  inasmuch  as  many  be- 
lieve in  them,  they  may  suggest,  at  least,  a  possibil- 
ity, by  and  by,  of  a  scientific  confirmation  of  what 
appear  to  some  to  be  even  as  far  beyond  the  reach  of 
rational  examination  as  are  the  miracles  of  Jesus. 
Let  us  turn  from  this  illustration  of  the  influence  of 
mind  upon  mind  to  others  that  are  more  apt  to  ap- 
peal to  us  all,  because  of  a  nature  more  likely  to  be 
confirmed  by  what  we  have  derived  from  sources 
deemed  less  doubtful.     If  the  Apostle  Paul  could 
draw  illustrations  from  the  gladiatorial  contests  of 
his  times,  I  may  perhaps  be  permitted  to  do  so  from 
contests  almost  as  reprehensible  in  our  own  times. 
Anyone  who  has  read  about  a  Spanish  bull-fight,  will 
recall  with  what  ease  a  man,  simply  on  account  of 
superior  intelligence,  of  tact,  of  skill,  can  obtain 
complete  mastery  over  an  animal  of  ten  times,  per- 
haps, his  own  physical  strength.    Merely  by  waving 
from  right  to  left  a  scarf  ten  or  a  dozen  feet  in 
length,  and  turning  himself  at  the  proper  moment,  he 
can  play  with  the  creature  as  gently  and  almost  as 
safely  as  though  it  were  a  kitten.    Yet  all  the  while 
the  animal  wishes  to  gore  the  man,  and  imagines 
himself  about  to  do  it;  and  the  very  fact  that  he 
wishes  this,  and  imagines  that  he  is  about  to  accom- 
plish it,  enables  the  man  to  play  with  him  in  this 
manner.     The  man  uses  the  very  thrusts  that  are 
made  toward  him,  in  order  to  defeat  Hie  object  of 


SOVEREIGNTY    AND    SERVICE  39 

the  thrusts, — to  cause  the  animal  to  attack  the  scarf 
and  not  himself.  In  other  words,  the  man  uses  the 
will  of  the  animal  for  the  purpose  of  thwarting  its 
own  design.  Thus,  as  you  see,  in  a  realm  allied,  tho 
only  slightly,  to  the  spiritual,  a  superior  intelligence 
can  allow  inferior  intelligences  to  exercise  their 
wills,  and  can  nevertheless  make  these  wills  accom- 
plish its  own  purposes.  Again,  we  occasionally  find 
a  successful  father  or  teacher  who  manages  the 
young  according  to  this  analogy,  by  arousing  to 
curiosity  and  activity  their  own  better  traits,  by 
humoring  them  sufficiently  to  allow  them  to  think 
that  they  are  accomplishing  merely  their  own  de- 
sires, and  developing  merely  their  own  mental  pos- 
sibilities. In  this  way,  many  a  parent  and  instructor, 
manifesting  that  absence  of  self-assertion,  that  spirit 
of  self-denial  characterizing  not  only  the  great  but 
all  the  approximately  great  masters,  educates,  draws 
out,  the  spiritual  and  intellectual  activities  of  those 
entrusted  to  his  charge,  until  they  acquire  inesti- 
mably valuable  habits  of  observation  and  study ;  and, 
not  only  so,  but  he  does  this  in  such  a  way  as  to 
cause  them  to  imagine,  all  their  lives,  that  they  have 
obtained  these  habits  mainly  through  their  own  ef- 
forts,— a  result  which  carries  with  it  what  proves, 
sometimes,  a  very  valuable  lesson  in  self-confidence. 
In  other  words,  superior  intelligence,,  in  such  cases, 
has  thwarted  the  purposes  of  free  will  so  far  as 
wrong,  not  only  from  the  outside, — i.  e.,  after  they 
have  been  developed  into  action, — but  also  from  the 
inside, — i.  e.,  in  the  thoughts   and  feelings  which 


40         SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

) 
precede  action,   which  determine   what  the   action 
shall  be. 

Of  course,  the  agencies  employed  when  exercising 
spiritual  influence,  are  intangible  and  unseen;  and 
for  this  reason  some  seem  to  find  it  hard  to  recog- 
nize them,  or,  if  recognized,  to  realize  how  power- 
fully they  operate  at  times  upon  the  human  spirit. 
But,  if  we  think  a  moment,  we  shall  find  that,  even 
here,  there  is  not  so  much  difficulty  as  at  first  ap- 
pears. Unseen  agencies  are  not  unusual  even  in  ma- 
terial nature ;  and  in  this  they  are  often  extremely 
powerful.  The  most  powerful  physical  agency  of 
which  we  know  is  gravitation :  and  who  ever  saw  the 
cords  that  bind  the  stars  together?  The  most  power- 
ful mental  agency  perhaps  is  music.  To  those  who 
can  appreciate  it,  it  can  bring  joy  or  sadness,  smiles 
or  tears,  long  after  every  other  influence  has  ceased 
to  affect  the  feelings.  Yet  music  is  the  most  intan- 
gible and  spiritual  of  all  the  arts.  There  is  nothing 
to  see  as  in  sculpture,  no  movement  to  animate  as  in 
oratory,  no  words  to  inspire  as  in  poetry.  One 
hears  sounds  only;  and  these  vague  sounds  are  so 
powerful  that  a  man  may  be  thrilled  through  and 
through  with  the  thoughts  which,  in  some  way,  they 
suggest.  I  sometimes  think  that  it  is  for  this  reason 
that  music  is  so  often  used  in  the  Bible  to  express 
symbolically  the  employment  of  heaven.  It  is  the 
only  art  of  which  we  know  that  can  control  one, 
and,  yet,  at  the  same  time,  leave  one  free  to  think 
his  own  thoughts  and  to  do  his  own  deeds.  All  the 
other  arts  present  the  mind  with  shapes  as  in  sculp- 


SOVEREIGNTY    AND    SERVICE  41 

t.ure,  or  colors  as  in  painting,  or  words  as  in  poetry. 
These  shapes,  colors,  words,  compel  thought  to  some 
extent, — they  indicate  that  of  which  one  must  think. 
But  music  addresses  itself  directly  to  the  feelings; 
and  when  it  has  stirred  these,  it  leaves  them  to  sug- 
gest whatever  thoughts  of  joy  or  of  sadness  may 
be  nearest  to  the  heart  of  the  man  who  is  under  its 
control.  The  same  strains  may  affect  differently  the 
experience  of  every  one  who  listens  to  them.  It 
may  make  a  child  think  of  his  play,  a  youth  of  his 
school,  a  merchant  of  his  business.  Now,  just  like 
the  cords  of  gravitation,  which  bind  all  the  stars 
together  and  keep  them  swinging  through  space  in 
order  to  fulfil  the  plans  of  the  Creator,  and  just  like 
music  which  controls  the  feelings  of  a  multitude,  and 
yet  leaves  each  individual  free  to  think  and  to  do 
what  he  chooses,  so  why  can  not  the  source  of  spirit- 
ual power  above  bind  all  our  wills  together  and 
keep  them  moving  onward  in  such  a  way  as  to  fulfil 
Divine  plans?  and  so  why  can  not  the  music  of  the 
love  above  control  the  feelings  of  the  universe,  and 
yet  leave  each  individual  free  to  think  and  to  do 
what  he  chooses?  If  our  wills  be  inclined  to  wan- 
der from  their  proper  orbits,  and  to  dash  through 
life  feverish  and  restless  as  the  comets,  why  should 
there  not  be  there  the  ability  to  restore  them  to  their 
lost  position,  and  to  place  them  where  they  can  be 
as  restful  as  the  planets  of  the  midnight?  If  our 
wills  have  strayed  so  far  away  from  the  music  of 
heaven  that  we  no  longer  feel  its  sweet  and  soothing 
influences,  why  should  there  not  be  there  the  power 


42         SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

to  awaken  anew  the  harmonies  of  love,  and  to  arouse 
a  better  spirit  within  us?  By  exertions  of  power 
without,  therefore,  and  of  power  within ;  by  dealings 
of  Providence  which  we  can  see,  and  of  grace  which 
we  can  not  see,  when  we  have  become  polluted  by 
the  presence  of  sin,  we  can  be  made  clean. 

This  the  leper  acknowledged.  But  he  acknowl- 
edged the  condition  also.  "Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou 
canst  make  me  clean."  It  is  one  thing  to  feel  that 
the  source  of  spiritual  power  is  able  to  influence 
mind  as  well  as  matter ;  and  another  altogether  dif- 
ferent thing  to  feel  assured  of  spiritual  willingness 
to  interpose  for  the  benefit  of  some  one  who  makes 
the  request.  And  unless  one  does  feel  that  there 
is  this  willingness, — he  may,  perhaps,  never  request 
the  favor.  Now,  how  do  we  know  of  the  existence 
of  this  willingness?  There  are  certain  arguments 
which  can  be  drawn  from  what  we  term  external 
nature  to  prove  that  the  creative  source  of  the  uni- 
verse can  not  but  wish  well  of  his  creatures.  But 
these  arguments  are  negative  at  best.  They  are, 
perhaps,  not  positive  evidences  of  his  love ;  not  evi- 
dences of  such  a  nature  as  to  satisfy  a  soul  that 
is  yearning  for  help  from  some  source  more  power- 
ful than  can  be  found  on  the  earth.  Such  evidences, 
with  the  conceptions  from  which  they  spring,  are 
recognized  by  most  men  to  be  imparted  or  revealed 
through  what  is  termed  inspiration.  And,  according 
to  the  Scriptures,  such  conceptions  always  have  been 
revealed  to  all  men.  They  were  given  to  Adam — 
i.  e.,  to  man,  to  mankind,  as  originally  created — and 


SOVEREIGNTY    AND    SERVICE  43 

the  children  of  Adam,  however  far  they  may  have 
wandered  into  idolatry,  seem  never  to  have  wholly 
forgotten  them.  In  fact,  the  very  existence  among 
all  nations  of  religions,  priests,  temples,  ministers, 
churches,  most  of  them  indicative  of  some  tradi- 
tional belief,  seem  to  prove  that  it  is,  in  part  at 
least,  owing  to  this  that  men  did  find  and  do  find 
those  conceptions  that  cause  them  to  have  faith  that 
God  will  guide  and  help  and  save.  Among  the  Jews, 
at  least,  it  was  the  one  who  had  been  revealed,  who, 
through  signs  and  wonders  wrought  in  the  past,  had 
proven  his  willingness  to  assist  men, — the  God  of 
Abraham,1  Isaac  and  Jacob  2  to  whom  the  people 
were  accustomed  to  pray:  and  now  when  this  leper 
came  crying,  "Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make 
me  clean,"  it  was  Jesus,  the  inspired  Master,  sent 
to  reveal  and  represent  the  love  of  God,  who  an- 
swered, "I  will,  be  thou  clean."  Is  there  one  of 
us  here  who  does  not  wish  that  these  words  could 
come  to  every  one  present  in  this  Church  today  as 
though  he  himself  heard  them  from  the  lips  of  the 
Master?  We  all  know  about  s]Diritual  power,  es- 
pecially about  that  which  we  have  a  right  to  attribute 
to  the  divine  spirit.  There  was  no  need,  perhaps, 
that  I  should  have  dwelt  upon  it  as  long  as  I  did. 
That  which  holds  in  hand  our  destinies  for  this  life 
and  for  the  life  to  come,  can  make  us  clean.  Will 
it  be  done?  Is  there  willingness  to  cure  the  disease 
of  sin?  Hear  the  testimony  of  Jesus:  "I  will,  be 
thou   clean."     See   the   deeds   of  Jesus,- — his   self- 

1  Gen.  32:9.  a  Mat.  22  :  32. 


44        SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

denying  kindness,  his  self-sacrificing  death.  All 
through  his  life  to  the  moment  of  his  final  departure, 
and  all  through  the  history  of  the  world  that  has 
been  growing  wiser  and  better  ever  since,  so  far  as 
it  has  embodied  belief  in  him  and  in  the  principles 
that  he  proclaimed,  we  can  hear  the  emphatic  repe- 
tition of  the  words,  "I  will:  be  thou  clean."  The 
Father  in  Heaven,  according  to  the  Master,  is  able 
and  willing  to  answer  requests.  But  is  he  willing 
to  answer  all  requests? 

This,  the  leper  did  not  know.  He  said,  "Lord,  if 
thou  wilt,  thou  canst."  Is  it  not  a  source  of  com- 
fort that  the  revelation  that  we  have  assures  us 
that  prayer  is  acceptable  which  does  not  express 
assurance? — that  the  doubtful  words  "Lord,  if  thou 
wilt,  thou  canst,"  were  answered.  But  it  is  well 
to  heed  the  fact  that  the  expression  of  this  condition, 
"Lord,  if  thou  wilt,"  the  acknowledgment  of  spirit- 
ual power  superior  to  one's  own,  was  also  included 
in  the  request.  You  and  I  desire  health,  influence, 
regeneration,  for  ourselves  or  for  our  friends.  If 
we  frame  these  desires  into  a  prayer,  can  we  obtain 
that  for  which  we  pray, — now  or  at  all?  "We  can 
not  know  this;  but,  even  if  we  doubt  it,  our  doubt 
need  not  hinder  our  prayer;  we  can  say  at  least, 
"Lord,  if  thou  wilt."  More  than  this,  our  doubt 
may  help  us  to  pray  aright.  Were  we  more  con- 
fident of  an  answer,  we  might  not  be  inclined  to  feel, 
or  to  acknowledge,  the  necessary  condition, — the 
fact  that,  after  all,  the  designs  of  a  power  above 
ourselves,  and  not  our  own  desires,  should  be  chiefly 


SOVEREIGNTY    AND    SERVICE  45 

consulted.  Even  Jesus,  as  you  remember,  ended  his 
prayer  before  the  crucifixion  with  the  words,  "Not 
my  *  will,  but  thine  be  done." 

The  leper,  as  I  have  said,  acknowledged  the  power 
above  him, — "Thou  canst  make  me  clean,"  and  also 
the  condition,  "If  thou  wilt."  There  are  other  ques- 
tions that  may  suggest  themselves — "Why  was  any 
acknowledgment  at  all  needed? — why  was  not  this 
leper  cured  without  one! — why  are  we  not  all  cured 
of  sin,  without  any  prayers,  without  any  acknowl- 
edgment of  any  power  or  of  any  will  above  our 
own?  Possibly,  many  answers  might  be  given  to 
these  questions.  It  is  in  place  at  this  time  to  suggest 
but  one,  and  that  the  one  indicated  in  our  text.  This 
world  might  have  been  made  without  there  being 
placed  in  it  any  creatures  of  intelligence.  But  there 
was  added  to  creation  as  its  crowning  feature,  a  ra- 
tional and  free  being,  a  man.  Things  that  are  moved 
by  the  power  of  gravitation  or  by  the  blind  instincts 
of  nature  can  glorify  that  which  produced  them 
without  any  exercise  of  thought  or  will.  But  minds 
can  glorify  their  mental  source  only  by  apprehend- 
ing its  power  and  by  acknowledging  the  wisdom  of 
its  directions; — in  other  words,  only  by  apprehend- 
ing the  fact  "Thou  canst,"  and  by  acknowledging 
that  the  limit  to  the  ability  of  God  exists,  and  ought 
to  exist  in  the  exercise  of  his  own  will, — "If  thou 
wilt."  If  I  be  a  man  of  truth,  one  who  loves  it  in 
itself,  and  also  the  exhibition  of  it,  I  may  argue  with 
you  all  night,  in  case  I  am  an  orator,  and  spend  a 

1  Luke  22 :  42. 


46         SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

great  many  nights  elaborating  it,  in  case  I  am  a 
poet,  in  order  to  make  you  perceive  the  truth  in  all 
of  its  relations  just  as  I  do.  It  is  not  always  the 
selfish  ambition  to  convince  you  that  I  am  an  orator 
or  a  poet  that  impels  me,  but  sometimes  the  desire, 
and  the  lawful  desire,  to  have  you  apprehend  the 
intrinsic  fitness  and  beauty  of  that  truth  which  I 
have  to  impart.  Just  so,  through  Providence  and 
grace,  God  seems  to  be  doing  all  that  he  can,  if  I 
may  so  express  it,  to  have  us  apprehend  and  ac- 
knowledge his  wisdom  and  his  love, — the  truth  of 
his  nature,  which  is  infinitely  worthy  of  our  wor- 
ship. In  other  words,  it  is  the  heart  of  the  Creator 
craving  for  the  sympathy  of  his  creatures  which 
speaks  to  us  through  the  religious  influences  that 
he  has  brought  to  bear  upon  the  earth.  He  can  do 
with  us  whatsoever  he  desires,  but  he  wishes  to 
have  us  willing  to  let  him  do  with  us  what  he  de- 
sires. He  wishes  to  have  us  recognize  his  charac- 
teristics, and  to  acknowledge  the  right  of  his  char- 
acter to  control  us.  The  church,  you  know,  is  called 
the  Bride.  Through  the  dealings  of  his  providence 
and  through  the  mission  of  Jesus  and  the  spirit  that 
he  brought  to  the  world,  it  is  intimated  that  the 
Maker  desires  to  woo  mankind  to  himself,  to  the 
free  yet  perfect  submission  which  marks  the  bearing 
of  a  bride  faithful  to  her  husband.  God  was  said  to 
be  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  to  himself,  to  his 
character.  When  the  grand  doxology  of  those  re- 
deemed upon  earth  shall  swell  amid  the  arches  of 
heaven,  is  it  not  natural,  as  well  as  scriptural,  to 


SOVEREIGNTY    AND    SERVICE  47 

suppose  that  lie  who  receives  it  desires  to  have  it 
the  expression  of  no  ignorant,  blind,  childish  super- 
stition ;  but  of  intelligent,  clear-sighted,  manly  faith, 
of  faith  which  has  passed  through  great  tribulation, 
it  may  be;  through  struggles  with  doubt  and  de- 
spair; but  of  faith  which  has  been  taught  by  the 
discipline  of  earth  to  feel  that  it  is  the  highest 
achievement  of  human  intellect  to  apprehend  the 
power  of  God ;  and  the  highest  effort  of  human  wis- 
dom to  become  submissive  to  his  will.  Thus  shall 
he  receive  worship  which  shall  be  a  worthy  tribute 
from  a  being  endowed  with  mind,  whose  thought  is 
logical  and  whose  will  is  free. 

And  you  and  I,  friends,  if  we  would  live  the  life 
of  truth,  the  life  which  we  were  designed  to  live ;  if 
we  would  become  subjects  of  the  spiritual  kingdom ; 
if  we  would  ask  favors  of  its  sovereign  in  such  a 
way  as  to  insure  an  answer,  what  must  we  do? — 
What  else  than  learn  to  say,  like  the  leper,  "Thou 
canst,  if  thou  wilt," — than  to  learn  to  express  this 
in  our  words,  think  it  in  our  minds,  and  feel  it  in  our 
hearts? — our  whole  lives  embodiments  of  the  idea 
that  in  God1  "we  live  and  move  and  have  our  be- 
ing V1 — He  who  has  all  power  can  assist  us.  He 
who  is  all  love  will  assist  us,  if  he  deem  it  best. 
Thus  in  each  of  us  shall  life  become  not  only  as  or- 
derly as  that  of  nature,  but  as  perfect  and  as  beauti- 
ful ;  and  in  the  heaven  above,  when  the  veil  shall  be 
drawn  from  before  the  throne,  when  we  perhaps 
shall  see  him  face  to  face,  we,  who  attend  those 

1  Acts  17  :  28. 


48         SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

grand  ceremonials,  shall,  perhaps,  be  advanced  into 
a  condition  of  progress  where  we  shall  have  robes 
that  are  beautiful  enough,  and  voices  that  are  sweet 
enough,  and  hearts  that  are  pure  enough,  and  char- 
acters that  are  noble  enough,  to  render  ourselves  an 
additional  attraction  to  the  sublime  glory  of  the 
spectacle  of  the  "ten  thousand  times  1  ten  thousand 
and  thousands  of  thousands  saying  with  a  loud 
voice,  blessing  and  honor  and  glory  and  power  be 
unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne. ' ' 

lEev.  5  :  11,  13. 


Ill 

PERSONAL  FAITH  AS  GROUNDED  ON  PERSONAL 

OBSERVATION 

"Believe  me  that  I  am  in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in  me,  or  else 
believe  me  for  the  very  ivories'  sake." — John  14:  11. 

There  are  two  avenues  of  approach  to  the  human 
will, — the  heart  and  the  head.  Through  these  ave- 
nues the  appeal  to  human  action  is  made  according 
to  two  different  methods, — through  personal  influ- 
ence and  through  proof.  As  our  Lord  discoursed 
with  his  disciples  he  said,  "If  ye  had  known  me  ye 
should  have  known  my  Father  also ;  and  from  hence- 
forth ye  know  him  and  have  seen  him.  Philip  saith 
unto  him,  Lord  show  us  the  Father  and  it  sufficeth 
us.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Have  I  been  so  long  a  time 
with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me  Philip?" 
— appealing,  as  you  perceive,  to  his  listener's  heart, 
and  this,  through  calling  attention  to  his  own  per- 
sonal character — "Have  I  been  so  long  a  time  with 
you  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me  Philip?"  But 
our  Lord  did  not  stop  here.  He  did  not  affirm,  nor 
even  imply,  that  Philip,  because  he  had  not  recog- 
nized in  his  companion  the  qualities  and  the  author- 
ity of  one  who  had  a  divine  mission — that  therefore 
he  was  reprobate,  beyond  redemption;  not  at  all. 

49 


50        SUGGESTIONS  FOB  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

Jesus  merely  repeated  once  more  his  former  method 
of  appeal.  Philip,  believe  me,  for  what  I  am — for 
the  character  which  I  have  maintained  before  you, 
because  I,  of  whom  you  know  so  much,  tell  you  it, 
that  I  am  in  the  Father  and'  the  Father  in  me;  or 
else,  otherwise,  if  this  seem  not  sufficient  ground  for 
you,  believe  me  for  the  very  works'  sake.  If  your 
heart  will  not  respond  to  the  appeal  of  my  personal 
influence,  if  the  flame  of  love  burn  not  so  brightly  as 
to  kindle  in  you  confidence  in  my  statement,  simply 
because  it  is  made  by  me,  then  let  your  intellect  ac- 
knowledge the  results  that  I  have  achieved ;  let  that 
which  I  have  accomplished  exert  its  legitimate  effect 
upon  you.  Believe  on  account  of  the  words  of  one 
whom  you  love,  or  else  believe  on  account  of  the 
works  that  you  have  seen  him  do, — believe  "for  the 
very  works'  sake." 

Probably  the  majority  of  those  surrounding  our 
Lord  at  this  time  had  grown  into  a  belief  in  the  di- 
vinity of  his  mission  and  the  world-wide  purpose  of 
it,  by  degrees  imperceptible,  perhaps,  even  to  them- 
selves. They  had  been  called  to  be  disciples  at  a 
time  and  in  a  manner,  which  appeared  to  them  like 
results  of  the  merest  accident.  They  had  followed 
him  who  summoned  them,  impelled  far  more,  it  may 
be,  by  curiosity  than  by  conscience.  They  had  moved 
about  with  him  through  Galilee  and  through  Judea. 
They  had  been  witnesses  of  his  marvelous  ability  to 
heal  the  sick,  and  even,  as  they  thought,  to  handle 
the  forces  of  nature,  till  they  had  cried,  "What  man- 
ner of  man  is  this,  that  even  the  winds  and  the  sea 


FAITH    BASED    ON    OBSERVATION  51 

obey  him ! "  '  They  had  listened  with  awe  to  his  st  il  I 
more  marvelous  discourses.  They  had  been  aston- 
ished at  the  penetration  of  his  insight,  been  moved 
to  tears  by  the  considerateness  of  his  sympathy,  and 
been  made  to  tremble  at  the  justice  of  his  indigna- 
tion. At  last  they  had  bowed  before  him,  as  before 
one  speaking  with  an  authority  not  recognized  in 
any  other  teacher.  And  all  this  before  the  time  had 
come  for  the  full  announcement  of  the  divine  char- 
acter of  his  mission.  Then  Peter,  James  and  John 
had  seen  what  is  termed  the  transfiguration.  All 
the  rest  had  followed  him  with  exultation  as,  over 
thick-strewn  garments  and  beneath  waving  palms, 
he  had  marched  along  the  road  from  Bethany,  and 
had  entered  in  triumph  through  the  gateway  of  the 
holy  city,  welcomed  by  the  cry  ' '  Hosanna 2  to  the 
son  of  David,  blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord !"  And  now  the  shadow  of  his  last  trial 
loomed  over  him,  the  eve  of  his  crucifixion  had  ar- 
rived. The  reason  for  events  that  threatened  must 
be  explained  to  his  disciples.  "In  my  Father's 
house,"  he  said,  "are  many  mansions,3  I  go  to  pre- 
pare a  place  for  you."  The  most  of  his  followers 
made  ready  for  this  announcement  through  the 
training  to  which  they  had  been  almost  unconscious- 
ly subjected — through  that  apprehension  of  the 
character  of  Jesus  which  had  been  imprest  upon 
them — could  accept  the  statement  implicitly.  But 
Philip  said,  "Show  us  the  Father,4  and  it  sumceth 
us." 

1  Mat.  8  :  27.         a  Mat.  21  :  9.         3  Jno.  14  :  2.         *  Jno.  14  :  9. 


52         SUGGESTIONS  FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

The  twelve  surrounding  Jesus  at  the  time  of  this 
occurrence,  and  Philip  craving  an  appeal  to  his  own 
soul  beyond  that  of  the  assertion  which  satisfied  his 
fellows,  are  typical  of  the  Church  in  every  age,  and 
of  some  individual  moods  in  every  community. 
Probably  the  majority  of  church  people  grow  into  a 
belief  in  the  Christian  system  just  as  unconsciously 
as  did  the  majority  of  our  Lord's  immediate  follow- 
ers. They  find  themselves  among  the  disciples  wor- 
shipping at  a  time  and  in  a  manner  that  cause  their 
presence  there  to  appear  like  a  result  of  the  merest 
accident.  Their  parents  or  their  friends  have  intro- 
duced them,  and  they  continue  to  attend  the  weekly 
services  mainly  as  a  matter  of  custom,  if  not  of 
curiosity.  There  they  listen,  Sunday  after  Sunday, 
to  the  story  of  the  crucified  Master,  and  of  his  won- 
derful influence  upon  individuals  and  communities. 
They  are  urged  to  duty  by  an  appeal  to  their  grati- 
tude, and  warned  from  sin  by  a  description  of  the 
danger  following  it.  They  are  drawn  into  sympathy 
with  Christian  life  by  witnessing  its  effects  in  the 
characters  of  one  or  more  of  their  associates,  and 
kept  from  wandering  into  ways  of  vice  by  the  pure 
standards  of  those  with  whom  they  enjoy  Christian 
fellowship.  At  last,  their  spirits,  hampered  by  a  con- 
sciousness of  the  limits  of  earthly  relationships,  and 
sighing  for  an  assurance  of  acceptance  into  a  holier 
household,  seem  to  hear  the  voice  of  Jesus  saying  to 
themselves,  "In  my  Father's  house"  above  "are 
many  mansions,  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you"; 
and,  almost  instinctively,  with  scarcely  a  question 


FAITH    BASED    ON    OBSERVATION  53 

further,  because  they  feel  it  to  be  in  accordance  with 
all  the  other  trustworthy  testimony  that  they  have 
received,  because  they  feel  it  to  be  the  truth  for 
which  their  spirits  have  begun  to  yearn,  and  must 
continue  to  yearn,  they  accept  it.  Jesus  Christ  is 
their  own  personal  Lord  and  Master,  representative 
of  love  divine  and  human,  mediator  between  them- 
selves and  one  who  is  their  judge  and  sovereign,  the 
brother  of  a  common  race  who  pleads  for  their  hu- 
manity upon  the  threshold  of  a  common  father's 
home.  And  if  it  be  that  true  life  is  that  which  lives 
up  to  the  light  that  it  possesses,  if  it  be  that  true 
light  is  that  life  of  Jesus  lighting  every  man  that 
cometh  into  the  world,1  if  it  be  that  every  man  thus 
lighted  may  hold  the  indwelling  Christ  within  him- 
self— a  light  embodied  in  a  medium  so  transparent 
that  its  shining2  may  make  others  also  glorify  the 
Father  that  is  in  heaven — what  more  natural  and 
rational  than  that  the  child  of  Christian  parents  and 
the  associate  of  Christian  friends  should  accompany 
both  to  the  communion  of  the  church  as  instinctively 
as  to  the  household  board  where  the  lamps  are  light- 
ed and  the  hearth  burns  brightly!  Sympathy — this 
is  the  motive  power  of  religion,  the  spirit  of  the 
Christ  embodied  in  the  fellow-man  to  be  to  the  world 
now  something  akin  to  what  the  same  spirit  em- 
bodied in  the  Master  was  to  the  fishermen  of  Galilee. 
So  most  men,  I  say,  are  drawn  into  an  acceptance  of 
Christian  truth,  and  of  all  Christian  truth,  through 
the  example  and  testimony  of  those  whom  they  love 

1  Jno.  1  :  9.  -Mat.  5  :  16. 


54        SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

— if  uot  through  those  of  the  Master  himself,  as  in 
the  case  of  his  earliest  followers,  at  least,  through 
those  of  the  Christians  of  today  who  are  his  living 
representatives. 

But  now  and  then  there  is  a  Philip  not  satisfied 
with  this.  He  says,  "Show  us  the  Father  and  it  suf- 
ficeth  us. ' '  What  is  to  be  done  with  him  ?  Ought  he 
to  be  rebuked?  Yes,  perhaps;  but  not  too  harshly. 
"Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,"  said  Jesus, 
' '  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me  Philip  ? ' '  Believe 
me  for  what  I  am.  Nevertheless,  if  you  can  not, 
there  is  hope  for  you  yet ;  ' '  believe  me  for  the  very 
works'  sake."  If  my  personal  testimony  will  not 
suffice,  theu  let  facts  appeal  to  you.  There  are  some 
in  every  community,  as  I  have  said — one  meets  them 
constantly — upon  whom  the  ordinary  presentations 
of  the  claims  of  Jesus  to  love,  faith  and  obedience 
seem  to  have  little  effect.  It  is  well  for  them  occa- 
sionally to  have  the  gospel  presented  where  its 
claims  shall  come  within  the  range  of  their  own 
chosen  points  of  view.  Whatever  be  the  case  with 
any  one  of  you  before  me,  it  will  not  harm  you  to 
know  that  we  have  the  authority  of  Jesus  himself 
for  saying  that  men  may  be  brought  to  religion,  to 
belief  in  Christianity,  just  as  well  through  their  own 
observation  as  through  the  testimony  of  others; 
through  the  works  of  the  founder  as  through  his 
words ;  through  his  achievements  as  through  his  au- 
thority ;  starting  with  a  consideration  of  his  human- 
ity and  his  influence  over  human  affairs,  as  by  start- 
ing with  a  consideration  of  his  relation  to  divinity 


FAITH    BASED    ON    OBSERVATION  55 

and  the  divine  purposes.  There  is  no  need  of  holding 
that  narrow  view  of  the  influence  of  the  Great  Mas- 
ter, which  supposes  that,  in  accepting  him,  men  must 
begin  by  giving  a  full  acknowledgment  of  all  the 
claims  that,  with  justification  or  without  justifica- 
tion, have,  at  different  times  and  places,  been  made 
for  him.  There  is  a  larger  view  of  this  subject,  and 
one  which,  as  I  think,  indicates  far  more  practical 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  as  well  as  far  more 
complete  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  the  heavenly 
Father's  methods.  It  is  a  view  which  gives  thankful 
acknowledgment  to  the  slightest  appreciation  of  the 
character  of  Jesus  on  the  part  of  any  one,  and  which 
firmly  believes  in  the  power  embodied  in  that  char- 
acter to  draw 1  to  himself  those  who  come  within  the 
remotest  outside  reach  of  his  influence;  believes  in 
his  power  to  cure  the  supplicants  whose  hesitating 
hands  dare  extend  no  nearer  nor  higher  than  to 
touch  the  trailing  hem  of  his  garment.2  This  seems 
to  be  the  truth  implied  in  our  text. 

Let  us  ask  what  are  the  works  that  the  Philips  and 
the  churches  of  our  own  day  may  recall  when  mu- 
sing on  a  text  like  that  before  us.  It  is  true  that  we 
have  not  seen  what  were  termed  the  miracles,  but 
have  we  not  perceived  the  results  of  an  exercise  of 
power  well  nigh  as  wonderful  I  The  life  of  Jesus  on 
the  earth  was  short  and  insignificant,  compared  with 
that  which  has  continued  his  influence  upon  all  the 
ages  since  his  own.  Gaze  back  upon  the  stream  of 
history — you  know  the  facts  as  well  as  I — where  it 

1  Jno.    12  :  32.  s  Mat.   9  :  20. 


56         SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

flows  clear  and  bright  through  pleasant  regions  with 
the  germs  of  peace  and  plenty  springing  up  on  every 
side,  there,  in  some  measure,  have  mankind  em- 
bodied in  themselves  the  love  of  neighbors  which  he 
enjoined,  broken  yokes,  and  let  the  opprest  go  free; 
but  where  the  stream  is  clogged  by  stagnant 
marshes,  where  the  banks  are  barren,  where  the  air 
reeks  with  the  stench  of  death,  and  winds  are  laden 
with  wild  cries  of  those  who  flee  and  lose  themselves 
in  gloom,  there  earth  has  never  known,  or  has  for- 
gotten, Christianity.  Recall  the  course,  as  well, 
through  which  what  men  call  culture  has  advanced. 
Where  were  the  masses  educated  first,  and  why? 
Where,  and  because,  there  was  a  Bible  to  be  read,  in- 
structing men  in  morals,  that  the  state  might  be  pre- 
served from  vice,  instructing  them  in  religion  that 
the  church  might  be  preserved  from  superstition.  It 
was  the  reformation  of  the  church  that  unlocked  the 
library  of  the  University  to  every  one  of  every  race, 
and  brought  the  general  enlightenment  that  charac- 
terizes modern  civilization.  Indeed,  from  the  lowest 
to  the  highest  stages  in  the  spheres  of  thought,  the 
actions  and  reactions,  the  assaults  and  the  defenses 
of  the  wars  that  have  furthered  on  the  victories  of 
intelligence,  would,  perhaps,  never  have  been  under- 
taken at  all,  had  it  not  been  for  devotion  to  the 
truths  associated  with  that  religion  which  so  many 
seemed  to  be  neglecting  and  opposing.  Consider 
again  the  advance  in  individual  character,  due  to  the 
same  influence.  It  has  taught  the  world  of  industry, 
for  "if  any  man  would  not  work  neither  should  he 


FAITH    BASED    ON    OBSERVATION  57 

eat."1  It  has  taught  of  recreation,  too;  men  must 
"remember  the  day  of  rest  and  keep  it."2  It  has 
taught  of  virtue,  for  "neither3  fornicators  nor 
idolaters,  nor  adulterers,  nor  abusers  of  themselves, 
nor  thieves,  nor  coveteous,  nor  drunkards,  nor  re- 
vilers,  nor  extortioners  shall  inherit  the  Kingdom  of 
God."  It  has  taught  of  social  courtesy.  "Hus- 
bands4 must  love  their  wives,"5  "children  obey 
their  parents,"  and  "each6  esteem  others  better  than 
themselves."  But  more  than  this,  going  deeper  into 
human  nature,  it  has  passed  below  all  outward  forms 
and  taught  the  soul  of  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice 
for  others.  "Walk  in  love 7  even  as  Christ  also  hath 
loved  us,  and  given  himself  an  offering  and  a  sacri- 
fice." It  has  taught  the  exercise  of  the  same  feeling 
toward  God.  See,  then,  that  ye  "present  your  bodies 
a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God, ' '  which, 
in  view  of  all  that  he  is  and  has  done  for  you,  "is 
you  reasonable  8  service. ' '  Yes ;  Christianity  in 
urging  this  devotion  has  made  it  all  reasonable.  The 
soul  is  not  torn  away  from  the  earth  to  lose  all  the 
surroundings  which  afford  it  sympathy  and 
strength.  It  is  joined  to  a  new  and  a  better  earth, 
where  fortunes  fail  not,  and  where  friends  can  never 
die,  where  "God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their 
eyes,9  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sor- 
row nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more 
pain";  and,  buoyed  up  by  the  faith  and  hope  and 
consolation   that   these   assurances    afford,   all   the 

l2  Thea.  3  :  19.     2  Ex.  20  :  8-11.     ::  1   Cor.   6  :  9,  10.     *  Eph.  5  :  25. 
6Eph.  6  :  1.    "Phil.  2  :  3.    7  Eph.  5  :  2.    s  Rom.  12:1.    °  Rom.  21  :  4. 


58         SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

world  beholds  the  Christian  resisting  the  currents 
of  temptation,  riding  the  waves  of  sorrow  securely 
as  a  sailor  in  his  life-boat,  till  lost  from  the  view  of 
that  humanity,  still  left  to  struggle  after  him,  be- 
hind the  looming  outlines  of  the  eternal  shore.  "  Be- 
lieve me,"  said  Jesus,  "for  the  very  works'  sake." 

There  is  an  additional  idea  in  this  expression.  Be- 
lieve me  not  alone  because  the  works  manifest  my 
power,  but  because  the  works  are  powerful  aside 
from  me.  If  you  fail  to  believe  in  Christianity 
through  the  Christ— then  believe  in  the  Christ 
through  Christianity.  Sympathize  with  its  works 
that,  in  this  way,  you  may  come  to  sympathy  with 
its  source.  This  idea  seems  to  be  implied  clearly  in 
the  verse  following:  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
he  that  believeth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he 
do  also,  and  *  greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do 
because  I  go  unto  my  Father."  Your  attention  has 
already  been  directed  to  the  fact  that  Christianity, 
through  the  influence  of  its  followers  has  done 
greater,  far  greater,  service  to  the  world  than  did 
its  founder  while  living.  The  Master  seems  to  mean 
to  say  to  Philip,  « '  Doubt  me  if  you  must,  but  do  not, 
because  you  can  not,  doubt  that  positive  power 
which  you  have  seen  and  shall  see  exerted  through 
me.  Let  this,  at  least,  have  its  legitimate  effect 
upon  you." 

And  is  there  not  force  in  this  method  of  present- 
ing the  subject?  Is  there  not  something  in  the 
method  to  appeal  to  every  one  of  us  today?    Do  we 

1  Jno.  14  :  12. 


FAITH    BASED    ON    OBSERVATION  59 

not  all  believe,  at  least,  that  it  is  our  duty  to  act  up 
to  the  light  that  we  have?  And  is  there  one  here 
who  doubts  that  the  truths  proclaimed  by  Jesus  are 
the  very  best  fitted  to  procure  peace  in  the  state,  en- 
lightment  in  society,  morality  in  the  family,  or  con- 
tentment in  the  individual?  Let  me  put  it  different- 
ly. Did  Christianity — I  mean,  not  its  superstitious, 
bigoted,  hypocritical  phases,  but  the  genuine  article 
whose  origin  is  faith,  whose  essence  is  love,  whose 
expression  is  charity,  whose  service  is  self-sacrifice 
— did  it  ever  do  any  harm  to  one  who  tried  to  con- 
form his  life  to  its  principles?  Would  it  make  one's 
own  family  more  miserable,  one's  children  grow  up 
worse?  And  if  it  would  not,  if  it  would  do  the  re- 
verse, why  not  accept  it  for  its  works?  If  you  can 
not  see  God  seated  on  his  throne,  no  reason  why  you 
should  refuse  to  recognize  the  power  of  God  here  on 
the  earth,  tho  millions  of  miles,  perhaps,  away  from 
his  throne.  If  you  can  not  see  the  Christ  crowned  as 
your  spirit's  Sovereign,  no  reason  why  you  should 
refuse  to  enter  the  gates  of  the  Celestial  City,  if  only 
the  prospects  within  seem  more  full  of  promise  than 
those  without.  Only  by  and  by,  perhaps,  shall  you 
be  near  enough  it  to  behold  the  palace  and  enter  into 
its  halls  of  state.  This  is  the  natural  and  rational 
way  to  act.  If  you  see  good,  follow  it.  If  the  cause 
of  Christianity  seems  ennobling,  advance  it.  If  the 
Church  or  Sunday  School  seem  to  enhance  intelli- 
gence and  virtue,  support  it,  attend  it,  enter  your- 
self into  the  work  that  it  has  to  do.  I  would,  and  I 
will — because  I  can — go  further  with  some  of  you. 


60        SUGGESTIONS   FOE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

If  because  yon  belong  to  God  anyway,  it  seem  the 
wisest  tiling  possible  for  you  to  submit  yourself  en- 
tirely to  the  influence  of  bis  law  and  authority,  then 
give  yourself  to  him  wholly,  "a  living  sacrifice.,, 
And  if,  during  his  earthly  ministry,  the  Great  Mas- 
ter seem  to  have  done  this  very  thing,  and,  in  so 
doing,  to  have  exhibited  the  complete  subjection  of 
his  spirit  to  God,  acknowledge,  for  yourself,  that  he 
was  controlled  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  so  was  the 
embodiment  of  that  Spirit,  no  matter  whether  you 
consider  him,  at  first,  the  highest  development  of 
humanity,  or  only  as  the  lowest  development  of  di- 
vinity. When  he  says  that  one  should  "deny  him- 
self1 take  up  his  cross  and  follow"  him,  do  it. 
Follow  him  just  as  you  might  have  done  in  ancient 
Galilee,  had  you  heard  that  gentle  voice,  and  seen 
that  noble  character.  He  went  about  doing  good. 
Follow  him  on  such  a  mission.  He  said,  "Love2 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  soul  and 
strength  and  mind  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  .  . 
this  do  and  thou  shalt  live."  Do  tins.  Ah,  friends,  I 
can  not  think  that  you  can  try,  sincerely,  constantly 
to  do  this  very  long,  before  you  will  find  that  you  are 
weak  and  wayward ;  that  you  can  not  keep  perfectly 
this  law  of  God.  Then,  when  you  feel  this,  I  think 
you  will  begin  to  wish  for  evidence  to  convince  you 
that  the  God  above  has  attributes  besides  the  one  of 
justice;  that  the  God  above  is  one  who  will  overlook 
our  human  ignorance  and  frailty;  and,  when  you 
feel  this,  I  believe  that  the  manifestation  of  his  char- 

xMark  8  :  34.  2Luke  10  :  27,  28. 


FAITH    BASED    ON    OBSERVATION  61 

acter  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ  will  appear  exactly 
fitted  for  your  needs.  I  believe  that  you  will  begin 
to  think  that  the  life  and  suffering  of  Jesus  were  not 
superfluous,  but  were  intended  for  exactly  such  con- 
ditions as  that  in  which  you  find  yourself.  I  believe 
that  you  will  have  renewed  strength  to  move  for- 
ward afforded  you  by  the  hope  of  immortality 
brought  to  light  in  his  revelation,  and  in  the  support 
of  his  spirit  assured  to  all  in  his  parting  words. 
Yes,  when  you  arrive  at  these  conclusions,  after 
earnest  efforts  to  embody  in  your  life  all  truth  so  far 
as  you  perceive  it,  I  believe  that  you  will  find  out 
that  that  promise  is  fulfilled  in  your  own  case,  that 
if  any  man  will  "do  his  will  he  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine"1 — I  am  in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in 
me — "whether  it  be  of  God."  Yes,  I  am  convinced 
that  if,  for  the  very  work's  sake  alone,  you  begin  to 
trust,  and  to  follow  the  Christ,  you  will  end  by  be- 
lieving him  because,  in  some  way,  the  Father  seems 
to  be  in  him  and  he  in  the  Father.  At  any  rate,  give 
no  excuse  for  your  lack  of  Christian  character,  such 
as  this — that  you  doubt  some  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
church.  Where  does  the  Bible  blame  any  one  because 
of  doubting  some  of  these?  So  far  as  I  can  recall, 
it  blames  only  for  dishonest  refusal  to  live  true  to 
what  is  not  doubted — "whatsoever  is  not  of  faith"  2 
— is  contrary  to  the  faith  that  one  has — "is  sin." 
"To  him  that  knoweth  3  to  do  good  and  doeth  it  not, 
to  him,  it  is  sin."  Well,  now,  does  no  sin  lie  at  your 
door,  according  to  this  test?    Do  you  believe  that 

1  Jno.  7:17.  2  Rom.    14  :  23.  s  James  4  :  17. 


62        SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

Christianity  is  a  power  for  good?  Do  you  believe  in 
its  works?  If  so,  have  you  allied  yourself  with  it?  Do 
you  try  to  be  what  you  respect?  Do  you  live  up  to 
your  light?  If  not,  whose  fault  will  it  be  when  you 
get  there?  Nay,  when,  perhaps,  you  do  not  get 
there.  For  if  the  beacons  be  glimmering  ever  so 
little,  and  you  do  not  steer  for  them,  whose  fault  will 
it  be,  if  you  never  reach  the  celestial  city?  Will  it 
be  any  excuse  to  say  that  you  were  waiting — here 
where  no  one  has  any  right  to  expect  anything  but 
glimmers — till  the  celestial  city,  with  all  the  blaze  of 
certainty,  came  over  the  storm  to  you? 


IV 

CHRISTIAN   CHARACTER   DETERMINED   BY 
CONDUCT,   NOT   KNOWLEDGE 

"Hoiv    readiest    thou?     .     .     .     This    do    and    thou    shalt    live." — 
Luke  10 :  26,  28. 

In  the  context  of  the  paragraph  chosen  for  con- 
sideration this  morning,  we  are  told  that  during  or 
after  one  of  our  Lord's  discourses,  a  certain  lawyer 
stood  up  and  tempted  him, — i.  e.,  tested  him,  ques- 
tioned him  in  order,  probably,  to  entrap  him  into 
some  statement  that  the  people  in  general  would  not 
accept.  The  lawyer  asked  the  Master,  what  shall  I 
do  to  inherit  eternal  life?  Undoubtedly,  he  expected 
as  a  reply  something  like  this:  "Believe  in  me"  or 
"Obey  the  truth  that  I  proclaim,"  in  which  case  the 
lawyer  supposed  very  rightly,  perhaps,  that  those 
about  him  would  declare  the  answer  presumptuous, 
the  one  uttering  it  a  usurper  of  authority,  an  op- 
ponent of  the  ancient  ceremonial,  a  preacher  of 
heresy,  an  exhorter  to  schism.  But  the  Master  said 
nothing  of  the  sort.  He  simply  turned  upon  his 
questioner  and  asked:  what  is  written  in  the  law; 
how  readest  thou?  The  adroitness  of  this  reply  is 
no  less  apparent  than  is  its  originality.  Few  relig- 
ious teachers,  in  similar  circumstances,  would  have 

63 


64        SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

answered  in  this  way.  Were  you  to  put  the  same 
question  to  your  friend,  the  philosophic  theologian, 
do  you  think  that  he  would  suggest  that  you  your- 
self already  know  the  answer, — that  he  would  ask 
you  how  you  read  the  law?  Would  he  not  rather 
argue  with  you  to  prove  to  you  how  right  was  his 
reading  of  the  law?  Were  you  to  ask  your  friend, 
the  emotional,  enthusiastic  revivalist,  do  you  imag- 
ine that  he  would  convey  the  impression  that  you 
yourself  could  begin  to  apprehend  one-half  of  what 
should  be  the  right  answer  to  the  question  ?  Or  were 
you  to  ask  your  friend,  the  more  practical  reformer, 
always  preaching  that  one  should  show  his  faith  by 
works,  do  you  think  that  he  would  ask  you  how  you 
read  the  law?  Very  few  of  these  people  would  give 
this  reply,  to  say  nothing  of  those  from  whom  we 
should  expect  something  different  as  a  matter  of 
course,  like  the  fanatic  trying  to  enforce  new  read- 
ings of  his  own  upon  us,  or  the  traditionalist  ques- 
tioning our  right  to  read  at  all,  because,  forsooth,  he 
fears  that  we  may  have  not  yet  acquired  that  preju- 
dice which  will  invariably  keep  the  doors  of  thought 
closed  to  a  new  suggestion. 

Yet  this  reply  was  in  accordance  with  the  Mas- 
ter's usual  method.  Once,  as  you  may  remember, 
when  the  Jews  gathered  around  him,  saying  "How 
long1  dost  thou  make  us  to  doubt,  if  thou  be  the 
Christ  tell  us  plainly,"  he  merely  answered,  "The 
works  that  I  do  in  my  Father 's  name,  they  bear  wit- 
ness of  me.    When  the  high  priest  said  to  him,  "I 

'Jno.  10  :  24. 


CONDUCT   VERSUS  KNOWLEDGE  65 

adjure  thee  by  the  living  God  that  thou  tell  us 
whether  thou  be  the  Christ,"1  his  only  reply  was, 
''Thou  hast  said,"  in  other  words,  this  is  what  com- 
mon report  calls  me.  Even  when  John,  his  forerun- 
ner, who  was  in  prison,  and  had  a  right,  if  any  one, 
to  know  the  exact  truth,  sent  a  messenger  asking, 
"Art  thou  he  that  should  come,2  or  do  we  look  for 
another, ' '  he  merely  answered,  ' '  Go  and  show  John 
again  the  things  which  ye  do  see  and  hear."  Each 
reply,  as  you  notice,  was  characterized  by  a  lack  of 
assertion, — by  an  appeal  to  the  mind  encouraging  it 
to  think  the  matter  out  for  itself,— by  confidence  in 
the  reasoning  power  with  which  God  has  endowed 
man — a  confidence  entirely  absent  wherever  there  is 
an  attempt  of  dogmatism  to  dictate  a  form  of  be- 
lief to  a  man  not  allowed  to  think,  lest  he  may  cease 
to  be  a  bigot. 

The  answer  of  the  lawyer  in  the  case  that  we  are 
considering,  proved  the  wisdom  of  the  Master's  ap- 
peal to  human  judgment.  The  lawyer  did  know 
what  to  do.  He  replied  in  the  very  words  that  the 
Master  himself  would  have  used:  "Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind, 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  And  Jesus  said  unto 
him,  thou  hast  answered  right;  this  do  and  thou 
shalt  live." 

But  the  lawyer,  as  we  are  told,  was  still  unsatis- 
fied. Willing  to  justify  himself,  so  it  is  said ;  in  other 
words,  intent  to  prove,  if  possible,  that,  after  all,  he 

1  Mat.  26  :  63,  64.  2  Mat.   11  :  3-5. 


66        SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

did  not  know  what  lie  should  do ;  and  that  his  ignor- 
ance, and  not  his  neglect  of  duty,  was  the  cause  of 
whatever  deficiency  there  was  in  his  life ;  willing  to 
justify  himself,  he  went  on  to  ask,  "And  who  is  my 
neighbor  ? "  It  was  a  very  ordinary  cavil,  this.  Noth- 
ing is  more  common  than  to  hear  men  shift  the  re- 
sponsibility for  neglect  of  any  kind  from  their 
hearts  to  their  heads,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
from  themselves  to  those  by  whom  they  may  be  sup- 
posed to  have  been  instructed. 

This  second  question,  who  is  my  neighbor?  did  not 
benefit  the  lawyer's  logical  position  any  more  than 
the  first.  In  reply,  Jesus  told  him  the  story  of  the 
Good  Samaritan,  and  then  asked  which  of  the  char- 
acters mentioned  in  the  story  was  the  neighbor  of 
the  man  who  fell  among  thieves'?  And,  as  we  shall 
find,  the  lawyer  in  his  reply  proved  that  this  ques- 
tion, also,  had  been  wisely  submitted  to  his  judg- 
ment. Jesus  said  to  him  again,  "Go,  and  do  thou 
likewise." 

There  are  two  important  truths  indicated  by  the 
methods  adopted  by  the  Master  in  this  controversy. 
Let  us  consider  them  for  a  little.  The  first  truth, 
already  suggested,  is  that  a  man  can  not  inherit 
eternal  life,  or  manifest  love  for  God  and  for  man, 
by  merely  getting  knowledge.  The  second  truth  is 
that  he  can  do  both  by  living  the  right  sort  of  a  life. 
Notice  how  the  parable,  in  addition  to  the  questions 
of  Jesus,  enforces  these  truths.  We  are  told  that  a 
certain  man  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho 
and  fell  among  thieves,  who  stripped  him  of  his  rai- 


CONDUCT   VERSUS  KNOWLEDGE  67 

ment  and  wounded  him,  and  departed  leaving  him 
half  dead.     Now,  mark  you,  what  followed:     "By 
chance  there  came  down  a  certain  priest  that  way." 
The  priest,  as  most  of  us  know,  was,  among  the 
Jews,  the  highest  official  of  religion.     As  such,  he 
was  undoubtedly  selected  in  the  story  because  a  rep- 
resentative of  one  possessing  the  highest  knowledge 
of  the  law  and  its  requirements.  What  did  the  priest 
do?    When  he  saw  the  man  who  had  fallen  among 
thieves,  he  passed  by  on  the  other  side.     All  his 
knowledge  about  religion  had  failed  to  cause  his  life 
to  be  religious.    The  parable  then  goes  on  to  tell  us 
about  a  Levite.    The  Levites  were  the  members  of 
the   tribe    from   which   the   priests    were    selected. 
They  were  not  necessarily  priests,  altho  they  might 
become  such.    But  they  were  supported  by  the  gen- 
eral fund  set  apart  for  worship,  and  were  employed, 
if  not  in  the  chief,  in  the  subordinate  positions  con- 
nected with  the  administration  of  the  temple-service. 
Being  associated  with  the  priests,  and  yet  not  so 
high  in  office,  they  may  be  taken  as  representatives 
of  those  having  a  somewhat  inferior  knowledge  of 
the  law  and  its  requirements,  and  yet  a  knowledge 
superior  to  that  of  most  of  the  people.    What  did 
the  Levite  do?     Notwithstanding  his  lesser  knowl- 
edge, he  acted  better  than  the  priest.    When  he  was 
at  the  place  he  "came  and  looked"  at.  the  man.    But 
that  was  all;  after  this  he,  too,  "passed  by  on  the 
other  side."     As  some  one  has  said,  he  found  the 
man  had  been  robbed  already. 

Contrasted  with  the  conduct  of  the  priest  and  of 


68         SUGGESTIONS    FOB    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

the  Levite,  our  attention  is  now  directed  to  that  of 
a  certain  Samaritan,  who,  as  he  was  journeying, 
came  where  the  man  was.  The  Samaritans  were  in- 
habitants of  the  country  which  lay  between  Judea 
and  Galilee.  They  were  a  mixed  race,  being  partly 
descended  from  the  Jews  who  were  left  in  Palestine 
during  the  time  when  the  majority  of  its  people  were 
taken  into  captivity  at  Babylon,  and  partly  descend- 
ed from  the  Gentiles  of  the  neighborhood  with  whom 
these  Jews  left  in  Palestine  intermarried.  During 
the  time  of  the  captivity,  because  prohibited  from 
visiting  Jerusalem,  these  Samaritans  had  erected  a 
temple  in  Mt.  Gerizim;  and  after  the  return  from 
captivity  of  the  rest  of  the  Jews  they  had  continued 
to  worship  in  this  place  rather  than  in  Jerusalem. 
They  had  done  so  in  part  out  of  respect  for  their 
own  immediate  ancestors,  and  in  part  out  of  hos- 
tility to  those  of  their  race  in  Jerusalem  who  de- 
spised and  avoided  them  on  account  of  their  being 
descended  in  part  from  Gentiles.  Five  hundred 
years  of  such  antipathy  had  made  the  feud  between 
the  two  sections  of  the  country  violent  in  the  ex- 
treme. You  may  recall  what  the  woman  of  Samaria 
said  to  Jesus,  expressing  astonishment  that  he 
should  converse  with  her  at  all.  She  reminded  him 
that  the  Jews  had  no  dealings  1  with  the  Samaritans. 
Now  it  was  one  of  these  latter — one  who,  according 
to  Jewish  opinion,  was  wholly  uninstructed  with  ref- 
erence to  the  law  and  its  requirements — whose  ful- 
filment of  the  law  the  Master  set  against  the  non- 

1  Jno.  4  :  9. 


CONDUCT   VERSUS  KNOWLEDGE  69 

fulfilment  of  the  same  on  the  part  of  two  of  the  most 
carefully  instructed  of  the  chosen  race.  "A  certain 
Samaritan,  as  he  was  journeying;,  came  where  the 
man  was,  and  when  he,"  the  Samaritan,  "saw  him 
«  he  had  compassion  on  him,  and  went  to  him  and 
hound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  on  oil  and  wine,  and 
set  him  on  his  own  beast,  and  brought  him  to  an 
inn,  and  took  care  of  him.  And  on  the  morrow  when 
he  departed  he  took  out  two  pence  and  gave  them  to 
the  host,  and  said  unto  him,  'Take  care  of  him  and 
whatsoever  thou  spendest  more,  when  I  come  again. 
I  will  repay  thee.'  '  It  was  after  telling  this  par- 
able that  the  Master  turned  to  the  lawyer  and  said, 
"Which  now  of  these  three  thinkest  thou  was  neigh- 
bor unto  him  that  fell  among  the  thieves? — and  he 
said:  'He  that  showed  mercy  on  him.'  Then  said 
Jesus  unto  him,  'Go  and  do  thou  likewise.'  "  In 
these  words  the  Master  added  a  positive  lesson  to 
the  negative  one  already  presented  in  the  parable. 
The  negative  lesson  was  this:  knowledge  can  not 
make  one  inherit  eternal  life.  You,  lawyer,  fully 
versed  in  all  the  law  of  Moses  and  the  Talmud,  you 
have  knowledge  enough.  Even  now  you,  yourself, 
have  given  me  all  the  information  that  I  would  have 
given  you,  had  I  chosen  to  do  so,  instead  of  merely 
questioning  you,  yourself.  But  mere  knowledge 
about  the  law  is  not  life  according  to  the  law.  The 
priest  and  the  Levite,  with  all  their  .learning,  may 
neglect  the  claims  of  humanity,  which  is  the  same 
thing  as  neglecting  the  claims  of  God,  who  is  imaged 
in  every  human  being.    But  the  ignorant  Samaritan, 


70        SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

who  has  no  learning  such  as  theirs,  may  live  accord- 
ing to  the  law,  because  he  may  love  his  neighbor  as 
himself.     Go  and  do  thou  likewise. 

There  is  nothing  in  literature  more  simple  and 
sensible  in  the  truth  that  it  enforces,  or  sublime  and 
stimulating  in  the  charity  that  it  illustrates,  than  is 
this  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan.  A  hundred 
years  ago  the  poet  Lessing  wrote  in  Germany  a 
drama  exalting  the  character  of  a  Jew.  It  raised  a 
storm  of  criticism  on  the  part  of  theological,  high 
Lutheran  critics,  not  because  ''Nathan  the  Wise" 
(as  he  was  termed)  was  good  in  the  sense  of  being 
humane,  but  was  good  in  the  sense  of  manifesting 
the  distinctive  traits  of  the  Christian.  The  world 
today  accounts  for  this  sort  of  criticism  by  saying 
that  Lessing  wrote  beyond  his  age.  But  here,  seven- 
teen centuries  before  the  time  of  Lessing,  Jesus 
Christ  was  teaching  the  same  lesson  in  this  parable. 
The  good  Samaritan  was  not  alone  sincere.  The 
point  of  the  parable  is  that  he  was  religious,  judging 
him  according  to  the  statements  quoted  by  the  law- 
yer from  the  revealed  law  of  God.  If  the  Master 
had  not  clearly  brought  out  this  fact  the  lawyer,  who 
had  quoted  the  words,  would  have  had  another  cavil 
to  present.  But  apparently  he  had  nothing  more  to 
say.  Probably  he  was  astonished  at  the  charity  of 
the  Master,  just  as  some  of  us  may  be  when  we  come 
to  think  about  it;  and  yet  this  charity,  in  a  time  of 
bigotry  like  that  in  which  the  Master  lived,  a  char- 
ity surpassing  even  that  which  prevails  to  any  great 
extent  in  our  own  time,  furnishes  one  of  the  strong- 


CONDUCT  VERSUS  KNOWLEDGE  71 

est  proofs  conceivable  of  the  eternal,  and  by  conse- 
quence, the  divine  fitness  of  his  character  to  be  a 
model  and  a  guide  for  all  the  ages.     Moreover,  we 
should  err  did  we  not  suppose  that  his  immediate 
followers  understood  the  full  bearing  of  His  teach- 
ings upon  this  subject.    "When  the  Gentiles,"  says 
the  Apostle  Paul,  in  Eom.  2:14,  "when  the  Gentiles 
which  have  not  the  law,  do  by  nature  the  things 
contained  in  the  law,  these  having  not  the  law  are  a 
law  unto  themselves."     Is  not  that  plain  enough? 
When  they  "do  by  nature."    There  is  nothing  more 
prejudicial  to  truth  than  to  suppose  that  what  a  man 
is  taught  by  revelation,  or  by  grace,  or  by  the  Spirit, 
or  by  any  other  influence  involving  a  more  immedi- 
ate agency  of  God,  is  out  of  analogy  with  that  which 
is  taught  by  nature.    God  is  one  God,  and  his  truth 
is  one,  however  manifested.    Light  is  always  light, 
in  a  candle,  a  chandelier,  a  star,  a  moon,  or  a  sun. 
There  may  be  differences  in  degrees  of  truth,  but  not 
necessarily  in  kind;  and  the  man  who  walks  better 
and  faster  in  the  darkest  night,  by  aid  of  a  lantern, 
than  you  or  I  do  under  the  guidance  of  a  mid-day 
sun,  will  reach  his  destination  first.    If  in  the  full 
blaze  of  Christendom  we  be  stumbling  and  loitering 
on  the  path,  I  dare  to  point  you  to  many  a  struggling 
soul  only  as  yet  in  the  twilight,  and  say  "Go  and  do 
thou  likewise."     Action  is  the  object  of  obtaining 
information;  conduct  the  reason  for  trying  to  un- 
derstand.   Let  us  not  be  afraid,  in  part  at  least,  to 
trace  right  results,  wherever  found,  to  right  in  their 
sources.    The  lawyer  to  whom  this  parable  was  told 


72         SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

had  just  as  much  reason  to  discredit  this  Samaritan, 
even  on  account  of  his  fulfilment  of  the  law,  as  have 
some  church  people  of  today  to  discredit  those  who 
are  better  men  and  women  than  themselves  because, 
as  is  said,  they  are  merely  moral.  It  is  a  great  thing 
to  be  moral,  in  any  way,  and  it  involves  a  very  nar- 
row conception  of  the  influence  of  God  to  suppose 
that  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  making  a  man  merely 
so.  Rather,  like  the  Apostle  Paul  in  the  passage 
quoted,  and  like  the  great  Master,  himself,  in  this 
parable,  let  us  lay  claim  in  his  name  to  all  the 
fruits  of  his  righteousness  wherever  they  appear. 
They  will  not  harm  the  church  except  where  she  is 
without  fruit,  and  then  she  needs  to  be  harmed. 
They  will  not  lessen  men's  regard  for  Him  who  is  the 
head  of  the  church  because,  according  to  this  concep- 
tion, it  is  his  loving  spirit  that  is  working  at  the  root 
of  character  whenever  fruits  like  these  are  found. 
Let  us  cling  to  the  church  as  the  guardian  and  in- 
structor of  religious  life.  We  can  never  learn  too 
much  or  become  too  wise  in  spiritual  knowledge. 
Expanding  our  intelligence  is  our  best  human 
method  of  enlarging  the  soul.  But  the  two  results 
are  not  by  any  means  synonymous.  To  know  is  not 
to  be,  to  say  is  not  to  do.  Rather  than  to  think  this, 
let  us  learn  of  the  Samaritan,  however  far  we  may 
consider  him  outside  our  own  spiritual  circle,  or  be- 
neath our  own  rank.  We  may  pity  him  for  what- 
ever there  may  be  in  him  of  poverty,  of  ignorance, 
of  superstition.  We  may  labor,  too,  that  he  may  be 
enlightened.    But  let  us  also  remember  that  wher- 


CONDUCT   VERSUS  KNOWLEDGE  73 

ever  we  find  disinterested  kindness,  meekness,  fidel- 
ity, honor,  we  are  coming  into  contact  with  traits 
that  show  a  near  or  remote  touch  of  divine  influence. 
Let  us  thank  God  for  them.  Let  us  thank  him  for 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  manifested  in  them,  as  we  would 
amid  darkness  for  some  single  ray  of  sunshine,  and 
no  more,  perhaps,  streaming  down  through  filth  and 
cobwebs  to  the  floor  of  some  poor  cellar.  Let  us 
praise  him  for  that  glory  dropt  from  heaven  like 
a  pearl  from  off  its  gates  to  sanctify  that  hovel.  Let 
us  open  anew  the  portals  of  the  church,  and  cry  to 
all  that  "The  spirit1  and  the  bride  say  come." 
Let  us  believe  that  as  many  as  are  led 2  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God,  whether  or  not 
they,  themselves,  may  acknowledge  it,  or  know  it. 
This  is  the  essence  of  religion — to  look  upon  God  as 
our  Father  3  and  by  consequence  upon  every  fellow- 
being  as  our  brother ;  therefore,  to  love  the  Lord  our 
God  with  all  our  heart,  soul,  strength  and  mind,  and 
our  neighbor  as  ourself,  because  he  holds  the  same 
relation  to  God  that  we  do.  It  was  this  principle 
that  the  Samaritan  had  the  charity  of  mind  and 
kindness  of  heart  to  embody  in  his  deeds.  His  love 
for  his  neighbor  was  the  surest  sign  that  could  be 
given  of  his  love  for  that  God  whose  child  this  neigh- 
bor was.  And  the  lesson  for  each  of  us,  as  well  as 
for  the  lawyer,  is  this:  Go  thou,  go  to  those  who 
have  fallen  among  thieves  of  fortune,  or  of  charac- 
ter, men  stript  of  raiment  or  of  reputation,  wounded 
in  body  or  in  soul,  go  thou  to  those  in  need  of  succor 

^ev.   22  :  17.  2Eom.   8  :  14.  3  Eph.  5  :  1,  2. 


74        SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

or  of  sympathy,  with  helping  hands  and  hearty 
words  and  patient  deeds  and  unfaltering  benevo- 
lence, go  wherever  there  is  anything  to  be  done  for 
man  or  for  God,  in  the  church  or  in  the  world — done 
temporally  or  spiritually,  with  words  or  with  wealth, 
— go  and  do  thou  likewise. 

This  whole  hearted,  unequivocal  acceptance,  with- 
out other  explanation  or  hedging  of  the  principle 
taught  by  this  parable,  may  seem,  as  I  have  said, 
strange  to  some  of  us,  and  even  dangerously  liberal. 
Yet  notice  its  accordance  with  other  parts  of  the 
Scriptures.  This  do  and  thou  shalt  live,  is  a  prin- 
ciple expressed  in  these  almost  everywhere.  Notice 
Deut.  6:25:  "It  shall  be  our  righteousness,  if  we 
observe  to  do  all  these  commandments  before  the 
Lord  our  God  as  he  hath  commanded  us;"  also 
Ezekiel  20:11,  "and  I  gave  them  my  statutes  and 
showed  them  my  judgment,  which  if  a  man  do  he 
shall  even  live  in  them" ;  also  Ps.  15 :1,  2,  "Lord,  who 
shall  abide  in  thy  Tabernacle,  who  shall  dwell  in  thy 
holy  hill!  He  that  walketh  uprightly  and  worketh 
righteousness  and  speaketh  the  truth  in  his  heart ' ' ; 
also  Amos  5:14,  "Seek  good  and  not  evil  that  ye 
may  live";  also  John  13:17,  "If  ye  know  these 
things  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them";  also  Rev.  22:12, 
"Behold,  I  come  quickly  and  my  reward  is  with  me 
to  give  to  every  man  as  his  work  shall  be."  Here 
are  statements  of  this  doctrine  taken  from  the  law, 
the  prophets,  the  poets,  the  gospels,  the  epistles,  the 
apocalypse. 

The  same  doctrine  is  taught,  strange  as  this,  too, 


CONDUCT   VERSUS  KNOWLEDGE  75 

may  seem  to  some  of  you,  in  every  one  of  our  Prot- 
estant churches.  Though  looking  on  one  side  of  the 
question,  all  may  be  tempted  occasionally  to  accept 
with  poetic  license,  and  to  sing  with  pious  fervor  a 
verse  like 

Nothing  either  great  or  small 

Remains  for  me  to  do, 
Jesus  died  and  paid  it  all, 

All  the  debt  I  owe; 

nevertheless,  every  one  of  these  churches  holds 
that  for  salvation  something  more  than  merely 
" nothing' '  is  necessary.  The  Episcopalians  call  it, 
perhaps,  new-obedience.  The  Methodists  and  Bap- 
tists, " getting  religion."  The  Presbyterians  and 
Congregationalists,  "conversion."  What  do  they 
mean  by  these  terms  except  to  imply  what,  some- 
times, some  of  their  membership  fail  to  express, 
namely,  that  to  begin  to  live  the  life  of  the  Christ  is 
synonymous  with  beginning  to  do  something.  But 
what  is  there  that  a  man  must  begin  to  do?  Is  it 
merely  to  come  to  church,  to  read  a  Bible,  to  pray,  to 
wear  a  long  face?  No;  because  a  man  may  do  every 
one  of  these  things  and  not  be  a  better  neighbor  in 
the  sense  of  a  friend,  a  citizen,  a  helper.  Besides,  he 
may  do  them  all  externally  without  feeling  them  in- 
ternally, hating  them  and  not  loving  them,  with  the 
body  and  not  with  the  spirit;  and  God,  who  is  the 
Lord  of  the  spirit,  looks  upon  that.  Now,  how  shall 
one  begin  to  do  these,  or  any  like,  or  better,  things, 
with  the  spirit?  How  but  by  beginning  to  love 
them !  Not,  mind  you,  by  beginning  to  take  delight 
in  them.    We,  by  no  means,  always  take  delight,  even 


76        SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

in  what  we  do  from  love.  A  mother  may  love  a  child 
when  she  punishes  it.  To  do  a  thing  from  love  is  to 
do  it  because  we  feel  that,  by  doing  it,  we  can  benefit 
some  fellow-being.  It  gratifies  our  spirits  because  it 
makes  us  conscious  that  we  are  doing  a  spirit's  fit- 
ting work.  A  man  loves  God  and  his  neighbor  when 
he  desires  to  do  the  best  that  he  can  for  them  and 
with  them.  This  is  what  the  Samaritan  tried  to  do. 
And  to  recognize  that  it  is  what  we  should  all  try  to 
do  is  the  remedy  for  the  dangers  attendant  upon 
preaching  a  system  of  salvation  according  to  the  in- 
junction of  the  text,  ''This  do  and  thy  soul  shall 
live."  It  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  what 
we  do.  If  we  take  the  context  and  find  out  that  the. 
thing  we  are  to  do  is  to  love,  there  is  no  danger  of 
our  forgetting  in  the  midst  of  any  of  our  deeds  what 
is  due  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  to  the  mercy  of  God. 

But  some  one  may  say,  perhaps,  that  I  have  not 
referred  to  the  atonement.  Have  I  not?  I  think 
that  I  have,  tho  as  it  was  indirect,  you  may  not  have 
recognized  the  reference.  What  is  the  atonement? 
As  the  word  indicates,  it  is  an  at-one-ment,  a  means 
of  causing  man  and  God  to  be  at  one— reconciling 
the  world  to  God,  as  the  Bible  says  (2d  Cor.  5:19) 
and  bringing  the  two  together.  The  Christian 
Church  claims  that  this  was  done  by  the  work  of  the 
Divine  Messenger  and  Representative,  Jesus,  the 
Christ;  and  it  is  a  claim  that  can  be  substantiated 
by  historic  fact,  by  the  history  of  the  growth  and  in- 
fluence of  Christianity  during  the  last  eighteen  cen- 
turies.   But  I  want  you  to  notice  that  the  atonement 


CONDUCT   VERSUS  KNOWLEDGE  77 

is  a  means  and  not  an  end.    The  end  is  love  for  God 
and  man  in  the  individual  heart  and  the  faith  that 
accompanies  love.    But,  perhaps,  yon  are  not  satis- 
fied yet.    You  say  the  death  of  the  Christ  took  the 
place  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  lamb  in  the  old  Jewish 
dispensation,  and,  even  according  to  the  new  dispen- 
sation, we  are  told  that  "the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,1 
his  Son,  cleanseth  from  all  sin."    Very  well,  I  be- 
lieve and  accept  that  statement.    But  let  me  remind 
you,  first,  that  sacrifice  under  the  old  dispensation 
was  not  enjoined  as  a  mere  form.    The  people  were 
told  to  offer  the  sacrifices  of  righteousness  (Ps.  4:5) ; 
that  "to  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice"  (1  Sam.  15: 
22) ;  in  other  words,  let  me  remind  you  that  sacri- 
fice  was   symbolical  and  meant  something.     With 
these  suggestions  in  mind,  let  us  examine  this  pas- 
sage, "The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  Son,  cleanseth 
us  from  all  sin"  (1  John,  1:7).    What  does  the  pas- 
sage mean?    In  view  of  our  subject  this  morning,  it 
is  easy  enough  to  know  what  it  does  not  mean.    If 
Jesus  had  put  his  question,  "How  readest  thou?"  to 
the  lawyer,   or  to  any  person  of  ordinary  intelli- 
gence and  common  sense,  and  this  person  had  ans- 
wered that  one  could  inherit  eternal  life  by  listen- 
ing to  an  eloquent  sermon  describing  the  crucifixion, 
by  hearing  music,  by  seeing  a  procession,  by  having 
water  put  on  him,  by  partaking  of  bread  or  wine,  by 
inhaling  incense,  the  Master,  by  extracting  such  an 
answer  from  such  a  person,  might  almost  be  said  to 
have  performed  the  greatest  of  all  his  miracles. 

1  Jno.   1  :  7. 


78        SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

Only  years  and  centuries  of  false  teaching  could  en- 
able any  rational  mind  to  suppose  that  eternal  life 
could  be  assured  by  such  methods.  All  these  or 
any  forms  of  religious  service  may  be  influential,  but 
prove  spiritually  effective  in  only  the  degree  in  which 
they  reach  the  spirit  in  which  one  does  all  things. 
So  much  as  to  what  this  passage  does  not  mean. 
Now  as  to  what  it  does  mean.  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  his  Son,  cleanseth  from  all  sin.  Suppose  as 
applied  to  it,  I  try  to  answer  the  question,  "How 
readest  thou?"  The  first  thing  that  1  do  in  reading 
is  to  recognize  that  the  language  is  figurative.  There 
is,  today,  no  real  blood  of  Christ.  If  there  were, 
neither  it,  nor  any  other  kind  of  blood,  would 
cleanse;  it  would  stain;  and  if  it  could  cleanse,  it 
would  not  cleanse  from  all  sin,  because  all  sin  by  no 
means  produces  the  kind  of  physical  defilement  that 
needs  cleansing.  The  words  are  figurative.  What 
do  they  figure  or  represent,  then?  To  determine 
this,  let  us  translate  the  figurative  into  literal  lan- 
guage. For  blood,  Jesus  and  sin,  let  us  substitute 
ic titer,  river  and  soil.  The  water  of  the  river  cleans- 
eth from  all  soil.  There  is  language  that  we  can 
understand,  and  treat  literally.  Let  us  ask,  when  is 
it  that  the  water  of  the  river  cleanseth  from  all  soil? 
Is  it  when  it  is  flowing  in  the  river?  No;  when  it  is 
applied  to  the  hands  or  the  body.  The  blood  of  the 
victim  that  was  sacrificed  in  the  old  Jewish  ceremo- 
nial is  represented  as  having  made  clean  or  holy  the 
bodies  and  garments  of  the  diseased  or  sinful 1  peo- 

1  Lev.  14  :  7,  14,  25. 


CONDUCT   VERSUS  KNOWLEDGE  79 

pie  who  prayed,1  or  of  the  priests  who  served  in  the 
temple.  But  in  that  case  even,  when  did  the  blood 
do  this  !  When  it  was  flowing*  upon  the  ground  from 
the  slain  victim?  No:  when  it  was  applied;  when  it 
had  been  sprinkled  on  the  bodies  or  garments  of  the 
people  or  the  priests.  So  the  blood  of  Jesus,  to 
which  this  blood  of  the  sacrificial  victim  is  compared 
in  the  New  Testament,  must  be  applied.  It  must  be 
sprinkled  on  that  which  it  would  make  clean.  The 
Apostle  Paul  speaks  of  being  sprinkled  from  an  evil 
conscience.  How  is  this  blood  applied  when  sprin- 
kled thus?  To  one's  clothing,  to  one's  body?  Cer- 
tainly not.  It  is  applied  figuratively.  What  is  blood 
the  figure  of?  We  are  told  this  over  and  over  again 
in  the  Old  Testament — nowhere  more  clearly,  per- 
haps, than  in  Lev.  17:14:  "It  is  the  life  of  all  flesh, 
the  blood  of  it  is  for  (i.e., it  represents)  the  life  there- 
of." Now  if  we  substitute  life  for  blood  in  the  pas- 
sage that  we  are  considering,  we  find  that,  translat- 
ed from  the  figurative  into  the  literal,  it  reads  thus : 
The  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  Son,  cleanseth  from  all , 
sin.  What  have  we  in  this  passage?  A  statement 
of  literal  fact — not  so?  The  life  of  Jesus  Christ 
cleanseth  from  all  sin.  What  was  this  life?  We  all 
know — a  life  of  love.  A  man  who,  in  view  of  what 
he  has  learned  of  the  earthly  work  of  Jesus,  has  the 
love  of  Jesus  in  his  heart,  has  that  which  necessarily 
drives  out  sin.  What  a  beautiful  figure  is  used  by 
the  Apostle  when  he  speaks  of  this  blood,  this  life, 
this  love,  as  being  sprinkled!    Let  a  single  drop  fall 

*Ex.  29  :  19-21. 


80        SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

upon  the  heart,  a  single  impulse  of  love,  and  it  will 
cause  the  germs  of  goodness  and  duty  to  start  and 
push  upward  and  outward  till  no  sin  at  all  is  left 
within  us.  We  become  entirely  cleansed.  This  is 
salvation.  This  is  the  end  toward  which  the  sacri- 
fice upon  the  cross  was  directed.  This  is  the  culmi- 
nation of  the  gratitude  awakened  in  men's  hearts 
because  of  that  sacrifice.  Notice  what  this  culmina- 
tion is, — a  condition  of  the  soul  in  which  love  is  driv- 
ing out  sin.  And  notice  again  that  the  existence  of 
this  condition  in  any  individual  soul  is  far  more  im- 
portant than  any  method  through  which  it  can  be 
produced.  This  is  the  reason  why  our  Lord  could 
praise  the  Good  Samaritan.  Tho,  possibly,  this  man 
himself  did  not  know  it,  his  conduct  showed  that 
working  within  him,  however  it  got  there,  was  the 
Spirit  of  the  Christ  and  of  God.  This  is  the  reason 
why  you  and  I,  too,  if  we  feel  that  our  professions 
are  hollow,  and  our  deeds  destitute  of  love,  need  to 
come  back  to  God,  to  open  our  hearts  to  him,  so  far 
as  we  can,  and  to  ask  him  to  sprinkle  them  afresh 
with  the  baptism  of  his  Holy  Spirit.  "And  we  have 
not  an  high  priest 1  which  cannot  be  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  our  infirmities  but  was  in  all  points  tempt- 
ed like  as  we  are  yet  without  sin.  Let  us  therefore 
come  boldly  unto  the  throne  of  grace,  that  we  may  ob- 
tain mercy  and  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need." 

1Heb.   4  :  15,   16. 


V 

UNSELFISH  LOVE  THE  CULMINATION  OF  NA- 
TURE'S TREND  IN  EVOLUTION 

The  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how  he  said,  It  is  more  olcssed  to  give 
than  to  receive." — Acts  20  :  35. 

Does  this  statement  stand  alone?  Is  it  a  declara- 
tion of  a  truth  that,  elsewhere  than  in  the  words  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  has  never  been  suggested.  Or,  like 
so  many  of  the  utterances  of  religious  leaders,  was 
it  true  before  he  said  it ;  would  it  have  been  true  if 
he  had  not  said  it?  Is  it  one  of  those  principles  of 
universal  applicability  that  is  illustrated  in  the  lives 
of  men  and  in  the  laws  of  nature,  and  that  is  taught 
even  by  the  gospel  of  evolution,  with  such  plainness 
too  that  only  our  human  dulness  of  discernment 
made  it  necessary  for  the  Master  to  give  utterance 
to  it?    Let  us  try  to  answer  such  questions. 

Of  two  acts  one  is  said  to  be  more  blessed  than 
the  other.  How  can  we  test  the  truth  of  a  statement 
like  this?  By  what  criterion  can  we  estimate  giving 
and  receiving  in  order  to  compare  them?  How  do 
we  judge  the  quality  of  any  action?  One  way  cer- 
tainly is  through  considering  the  demand  for  it. 
Frugality  demanded  by  the  stern  necessities  of  pov- 
erty is  economy.     Exercised   amid   coffers   of  un- 

81 


82         SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

touched  wealth,  it  is  penuriousness.  The  demand 
for  it,  I  say,  is  one  criterion  by  which  to  test  the 
quality  of  actions.  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive.  In  mineral,  in  vegetable,  in  human  life, 
is  there  more  demand  for  giving  than  for  receiving? 
What  is  Nature's  answer  to  this  question,  so  far  as 
it  furnishes  an  answer?  Do  the  objects  now  exist- 
ing in  the  world  indicate  that  the  process  of  giving 
is,  or  has  been,  in  more  active  exercise  than  that  of 
receiving?  It  is  a  question  easy  enough  to  solve. 
If  the  process  of  giving  be,  or  have  been,  in  more 
active  exercise,  then,  by  tracing  the  progress  of  life 
backward,  we  shall  find  a  time  when  the  possessions 
of  life  were  less  in  quantity  or  quality  than  they  are 
at  present,  the  greater  abundance  in  our  time  being 
due  to  the  fact  that  each  generation  in  succession  has 
given  to  that  which  followed  it  more  than  it  has  re- 
ceived from  that  which  preceded  it.  Do  we  find  this 
condition  realized?  The  slightest  thought  reveals  to 
us  that  we  do.  Behind  the  innumerable  multitudes 
of  men  and  races  on  the  earth  at  present,  it  is  easy  to 
trace  back  to  a  time  when  their  forefathers  could  all 
be  gathered  into  a  few  tribes  and  families.  Behind 
even  the  animals  and  plants  with  seed  springing  up 
to  augment  in  infinite  variety  the  new  products  of 
each  generation,  science  traces  back,  so  far  as  en- 
abled to  trace  at  all,  to  some  few  specimens  the  pro- 
totypes of  all.  And  this  is  true  as  applied  not  only 
to  quantity  but  also  to  quality.  There  was  a  time 
when  never  sound  of  insect  nor  the  music  of  a  bird 
broke  tlie  monotony  of  universal  silence  on  the  earth. 


EVOLUTION    TENDING    TO   LOVE  83 

There  was  a  time  when  human  faces  were  not  seen  to 
flush  nor  even  flower  or  fruit  to  redden  in  the  sun- 
shine. The  fervent  early  life  of  the  globe  grew  cold 
and  old  and  gray  in  service,  then  it  gave  the  earth 
its  granite.  The  stone  foundations  crumbled,  and, 
at  last,  the  earth  had  soil.  The  soil  was  brushed  by 
winds,  and  watered  by  the  rains,  and  when  its  days 
of  spring  had  passed,  there  came  the  bud  and  bloom 
of  summer.  The  heavens  brooded  over  it  again,  and 
brought  to  life  what  plunged  beneath  the  sea,  and 
bounded  over  hills  and  swept  up  into  air, — the  fish, 
the  beast,  the  bird.  Then  the  Creative  power  came 
nearer  and  animated  with  inspiring  breath  one  form 
of  clay,  and  it  became  a  living  soul,  a  man.  And 
now  the  man,  with  all  creation  back  of  him  develop- 
ing— for  his  sake,  too — according  to  a  law  demanding 
more  of  giving  than  of  receiving,  both  in  quantity 
and  quality, — what  shall  this  man,  first  of  all  created 
beings  with  a  will  to  choose  or  to  reject  this  law  per- 
vading all  the  universe — what  shall  this  man  do? 
What  should  he  do?  Were  human  life  afloat  upon 
the  swelling  waters  of  a  flood  accumulated  from  a 
hundred  storms  amid  steep  mountain  passes,  could 
it  yield  to  the  tendency  impelling  its  advance  with 
greater  reason,  or  resist  it  with  more  folly,  than  the 
soul  that  finds  itself  afloat  upon  this  stream  of  ten- 
dency that  floods  all  nature  and  that  has  its  source 
so  far  up  in  the  region  of  the  infinite  that  man's  weak 
powers  can  gather  no  conception  of  the  distance?  At 
such  a  stage,  with  such  surroundings,  with  no  data 
from  which  to  infer  the  opposite,  why  should  he  not 


84        SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

acknowledge  both  in  thought  and  deed,  in  view  of  the 
demands  of  nature  and  of  human  life,  that  the  state- 
ment of  the  text  is  true,  "It  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive." 

But  the  relative  rank  of  deeds  may  be  determined 
not  only  by  the  demands  that  call  them  forth,  but 
also  by  the  characteristics  involved  in  the  exercise  of 
them.  How  is  it  with  giving  and  receiving?  What 
characteristics  of  life  are  fitted  best  to  give,  and 
what  to  receive?  As  we  rise  in  the  scale  of  being, 
are  those  powers  multiplied  the  most  which  render 
giving  possible,  or  those  capacities  which  render  re- 
ceiving possible?  We  all  know  the  answer  to  this. 
As  we  ascend  from  the  mineral  to  the  vege- 
table kingdom,  and  from  this  again  to  the  animal, 
we  pass  from  a  sphere  of  life  in  which  comparative- 
ly little  is  given  by  the  individual  beyond  what  is 
received  to  a  sphere  in  which  these  conditions  are 
reversed.  The  animal  is  born  in  caverns  of  the 
rocks,  or  in  holes  beneath  the  ground;  but  he  is  not 
dependent,  as  is  vegetation,  on  the  few  faint  gleams 
of  sunshine  which  can  steal  into  the  cave,  or  on  the 
paltry  drippings  of  the  shower  which  can  work 
their  way  into  the  ground  and  reach  him  where  he 
is.  He  is  formed  so  that  he  does  not  need  to  receive 
these  things.  He  has  within  him  a  source  of  action, 
enabling  him  to  get  them  for  himself.  He  can 
range  at  will  from  ledges  of  the  mountains  down  to 
streams  amid  the  valleys;  and,  in  marked  dis- 
tinction from  the  plant,  his  food  and  comfort, 
for  himself  and  young,   depend  far  less   on   that 


EVOLUTION    TENDING    TO    LOVE  85 

which  he  receives  than  on  the  energy  which  he  gives 
forth. 

And  when  from  other  animals  we  rise  to  man, 
what  is  that  characteristic  which  especially  belongs 
to  him?  What  is  it  but  a  higher  development  of 
this  same  possibility  of  initiating  action, — a  power 
that  can  originate  ends  as  well  as  means  for  en- 
hancing enjoyment  and  enlightenment.  How  much 
less  does  nature  furnish  to  satisfy  the  physical  ne- 
cessities of  man  than  of  the  animal?  How  much 
more  of  love  and  care  must  human  parents  give 
their  offspring  than  is  demanded  from  the  brute? 
How  much  more  of  toil  and  patience  must  the  off- 
spring themselves  put  forth  to  acquire  the  skill  that 
must  be  theirs,  would  they  obtain  the  necessities  of 
life,  to  say  nothing  of  its  comforts  and  emoluments? 
The  child  receives  what  the  parents  have  to  give; 
but  how  about  the  man?  How  about  him  as  an  in- 
tellectual being?  Would  he  be  wise?  Wisdom  is 
,  not  that  knowledge  of  the  earth  which  the  eye  re- 
ceives, which  can  be  pictured  upon  its  pupil.  It  is 
the  methods  of  the  world  fused  into  thought,  often 
with  untold  sufferings, — the  image  of  the  actual  as 
photographed, — amid  the  glowing  fervor  of  experi- 
ence, burnt  in  upon  the  living  tissues  of  the  soul, 
and  then  kept  there  after  the  transient  din  and 
smoke  of  words  and  deeds  have  vanished.  Would 
one  have  influence?  Honor  is  not  the  badge  or 
crown  or  robe  dropped,  like  Elijah's  *  cloak,  from  one 
who  leaves  the  earth,  upon  some  comrade  left  be- 

1  2  Kings  2  :  13. 


86         SUGGESTIONS   FOB  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

hind.  It  is  the  hard-earned  right  to  rule  another, — 
a  right  acknowledged  by  a  world  perceiving  how 
this  man — like  every  true  man,  howsoever  born,  a 
self-made  man — has  learned  to  rule  himself.  Would 
one  have  immortality?  Had  he  no  soul,  or  were  it 
material,  as  slightly  so  as  the  drop  of  dew  that  hangs 
upon  the  buttercup,  he  might  receive  the  blessing. 
The  morning  sun  without  his  aid  might  shine  upon 
him  and  transport  him  to  the  sky.  But,  being  what 
he  is,  his  spirit  like  the  bird's  must  spread  its  wings 
and  toil  and  tarry  often  before  it  reach  its  destina- 
tion. Nay,  more  than  this.  If  it  would  mount  above, 
it  must  give  up  its  very  body  and  all  its  hold  upon 
the  objects  in  the  world  surrounding  it.  When,  in 
the  possibilities  of  faith,  the  vision  of  the  rising 
soul  concludes  the  drama  of  this  worldly  life,  has 
not  the  man,  as  he  was  known  to  us,  surrendered 
everything1?  Is  it  a  wonder  then  that  in  this  world, 
as  well,  the  law  of  spiritual  life  is  this:  "Let  each 
esteem  others  *  better  than  themselves  "  ?  ' '  Bear  2  ye 
one  another's  burdens  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of 
Christ"?  The  law  of  Christ,  what  is  it  but  to  give, 
give  words,  give  deeds,  give  suffering,  give  life  it- 
self? The  law  of  Christ, — what  is  it  but  the  law 
of  God?  When  we  rise  highest  in  the  sphere  of  ex- 
istence, where  has  receiving  flown?  God  is  the  giv- 
er, the  giver  of  life.  The  universe  may  reflect  his 
glory.  But  it  does  so  from  a  mirror  which  he  has 
first  produced.  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive,  because  it  is  most  blessed  to  be  God-like. 

1  Phil.  2:3.  2  Gal.  6  :  2. 


EVOLUTION    TENDING    TO    LOVE  87 

This  brings  us  to  another  thought,  undoubtedly 
the  chief  thought  underlying  the  statement  of  the 
text.  All  that  has  been  said  so  far  has  given  us 
nothing  but  presumptive  evidence  of  its  truth.  Now 
we  have  come  to  facts  that  are  capable  of  doing 
more  than  this.  The  relative  rank  of  deeds  may  be 
determined  not  only  by  the  demands  that  call  them 
forth,  and  by  the  characteristics  involved  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  them,  but,  besides  this,  by  the  rewards  at- 
tending them.  The  rewards  of  receiving  are  mate- 
rial. Those  of  giving,  when  the  giving  is  pure  giv- 
ing, void  of  every  element  of  barter  or  of  desire  to 
obtain  an  equivalent,  are  necessarily  spiritual.  They 
are  of  a  kind  that  man  alone  of  all  on  earth  is  fitted 
to  obtain,  and  that  every  man,  too,  is  able  to  obtain. 
And  yet  how  many  fail  to  do  so!  There  are  those 
who  have  struggled  hard  and  honestly  to  gain  some 
prize  that  gleamed  so  brightly  when  they  saw  it  far 
off  from  them  that  they  imagined  that,  if  they  could 
only  reach  it,  to  possess  it  would  be  to  hold  in  one's 
hand  the  light  that  should  make  bright  all  things 
surrounding  them.  But  now,  when  they  have  gained 
it,  the  brightness  has  not  come.  There  are  those 
who  have  labored  earnestly  for  knowledge,  and  won- 
der that  their  learning,  though  it  has  filled  their 
minds  with  thought,  has  furnished,  after  all,  so  little 
that  can  satisfy  their  souls.  There  are  those  who 
have  toiled  through  nights  and  days  for  wealth,  and 
marvel  that  the  treasures  with  the  gleam  of  which 
their  eyes  were  dazzled  once,  seem  tarnished  now 
when  held   within   the   hands    so   tightly  clutching 


88         SUGGESTIONS  FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

them.  There  are  those  who  have  climbed  and 
climbed  to  scale  the  heights  of  influence,  and  stand 
amazed  now  on  some  summit  to  find  that  though 
they  may  be  further  from  the  hearts  of  all  their 
fellows  on  the  earth,  they  are  no  nearer  heaven. 
And,  side  by  side  with  some  of  these,  are  others  who 
have  never  gained  a  single  outward  object  which, 
deep  within  their  natures,  they  desired,  and  yet 
whose  spirits  overflow  with  gratitude.  Do  you  re- 
call that  statement  of  the  Master  just  before  his  life 
had  proved,  apparently,  a  failure,  and  the  shadow 
of  the  crucifixion  rested  over  him? — ''These  things 
have  I  spoken  unto  you,"  he  said,  "that  my  joy 
might  remain  in  you  and  that  your  joy  might  be 
full."1  Many  of  us  feel  that  if  we  had  only  re- 
ceived more,  more  of  ability,  advantage,  wealth,  po- 
sition, more  of  something  to  secure  us  greater  in- 
fluence,— very  much  more  satisfactory,  indeed, 
might  have  been  the  rewards  of  life.  Our  subject, 
this  morning,  teaches  us  that  the  rewards  of  life 
that  are  the  most  desirable, — in  fact,  that  the  main 
triumphs  of  life  for  ourselves  or  for  others  do  not 
depend  so  much  upon  what  we  have  received  as  upon 
what  we  give.  We  sometimes  think  that  we  have 
received  so  little  that  we  have  but  little  that  it  is 
possible  for  us  to  give.  How  do  we  know  this  as  a 
fact?  The  only  power  that  can  really  rule  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  world  is  spirit,  and  spirit  is 
the  one  thing  that  men  never  need  to  acquire.  We 
all  have  it.    We  need  only  to  exert  it, — to  exercise 

xJno.  15  :  11. 


EVOLUTION    TENDING    TO    LOVE  89 

it.  Have  we  forgotten  him  whom  all  forsook,1  who 
had  not  where  to  lay  his  head?  2  He  became  the 
servant  3  of  all.  He  is  now  the  Lord  of  all.  Might 
it  not  be  wise  to  try  his  experiment,  and  see  if  we 
be  not  rewarded  with  something  akin  to  his  success? 
There  are  times  in  the  lives  of  all  men  when  friends, 
station,  riches,  power  seem  fading  from  their  grasp 
like  the  fairy  crowns  and  scepters  of  their  child- 
hood's dreams.  But  what  of  that?  It  is  the  law 
of  the  spirit's  life.  It  is  the  law  of  Christ.  He 
that  loses  4  his  life  saves  it ;  he  that  saves  his  life, 
he  that  gains  the  whole  world,  and  holds  it,  holds 
that  which  is  too  heavy  for  him  to  carry.  He  buries 
his  own  soul  beneath  it.  It  may  never  know  a  resur- 
rection. 

If  he  that  loses  his  life  saves  it,  much  more  he 
that  voluntarily  gives  his  life.  He  gives  that  which 
is  material,  he  saves  that  which  is  spiritual.  This, 
friends,  is  the  only  salvation  worth  having.  It  is 
the  only  salvation  that  Jesus  ever  intended  to  offer ; 
and  his  condition  was  ' '  Follow 5  me. ' '  There  may  be 
reasonable  doubt  whether  the  powers  above  care  as 
profoundly  as  some  of  us  may  imagine,  about  our 
worthless  conceptions  concerning  modes  of  divine 
existence  which,  as  a  fact,  for  human  minds  are 
simply  inconceivable ;  or  concerning  the  processes  of 
divine  thought  through  which  logic,  such  as  exists 
beyond  the  limits  of  either  time  or  space,  works  out 
the  problem  of  the  world's  redemption.     But  this 

1Mat.    26:56.     2  Mat.    8:20.      "Phil.   2:7-11.     4  Mat.    10:39. 

D  Mat.  4  :  19. 


90        SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

one  thing  is  certain — as  certain  as  the  laws  of  grav- 
itation— that  there  is  no  salvation  for  the  spirit — 
no  inward  satisfaction,  comfort,  blessedness — except 
in  the  degree  in  which  a  man  is  led  by  the  spirit  of 
God,  following,  in  this  regard,  in  the  footsteps  of 
Jesus,  the  Great  Master,  to  give  himself,  as  the 
Master  did — yet  in  ways  conformable  to  his  own  hu- 
man, limited,  individual  aptitudes  and  traits — to  the 
service  of  others, — not  of  the  Christ  and  God  as  dis- 
tant, vague  abstractions,  but  to  the  service  of  these 
as  represented  and  present  in  one's  fellow-men.1 
"Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least 
of  these  my  brethren,"  said  Jesus,  "ye  have  done  it 
unto  me."  Friends,  believe  me,  if  you  were  on  the 
topmost  pinnacle  of  the  new  Jerusalem,  with  the 
city's  choicest  crystal,  used  as  a  lens,  for  your  tele- 
scope, you  could  never  spy  out  in  the  pursuit  of  any 
legitimate  profession  to  which  you  could  devote  your 
energies,  any  obstacle  to  prevent  you  from  fulfilling 
in  your  own  career  an  aim  like  this.  Will  you  believe 
it?  Will  you  believe  in  Christ's  life  and  God's  law, 
and  in  the  representative  possibility  in  you  and  in 
me,  as  well  as  in  the  Christ,  and  try  to  live  true  to  it? 
We  never  can  have  physical  life  unless  the  blood 
be  flowing  through  the  channels  made  for  it.  How 
can  we  have  spiritual  life,  except  as  love  is  flowing 
through  the  channels  made  for  it, — from  God 
through  Christ,  and  then  through  Christ-like  men,  to 
all  humanity?  We  have  seen  the  waters  rushing 
through  the  channels  of  the  rivers  to  the  sea.    Does 

1  Mat.  25  :  40. 


EVOLUTION    TENDING    TO    LOVE  91 

not,  the  agency  of  God,  expressed  in  the  laws  of  na- 
ture, keep  the  waters  flowing?  Is  it  often  that  their 
sources  are  exhausted! — Off  they  pour  through  the 
valleys  to  fill  them  with  fertility  and  fragrance,  and 
then  to  the  ocean.  But  they  are  not  lost.  Up 
through  the  clouds,  made  bright  by  rainbow  and  by 
sunset,  the  tribute  of  the  stream  is  lifted,  beauti- 
fied, apotheosized;  and,  when  the  dawn  has  come, 
bcrne  backward  by  the  unseen  winds,  the  mist  rests 
glorified  upon  the  mountain  range,  and  does  not  take 
its  flight  until  new  life  and  strength  have  been  im- 
parted to  the  spring  from  which  the  waters  first 
flowed  forth.  Would  it  not  be  well  for  all  of  us  to 
try  a  similar  experience?  to  be  like  the  spring;  to 
open  the  energies  of  our  being  to  the  influences  that 
come  from  above ;  to  be  born  thus  from  above ;  to 
cultivate,  early  in  life,  habits  of  giving — of  impart- 
ing to  others — all  that  is  peculiarly  our  own, — 
strength,  experience,  information,  intelligence,  posi- 
tion as  well  as  wealth — for  all  are  forms  of  wealth 
— and  then  to  weep  with  those  that  weep  and  to 
laugh  with  those  that  laugh?  Certainly  the  world 
that  so  we  served  would  grow  more  genial  to  our 
vision.  The  firm  grasp  of  friendship  and  assis- 
tance, when  the  pulse  of  gratitude  was  fluttering  in 
the  hand  we  held,  would  start  a  livelier  impulse 
throbbing  through  our  hearts.  The  bright  smile  of 
sympathy  and  encouragement,  when  others'  faces 
were  flushing  to  give  response,  would  send  a  warm- 
er current  glowing  through  our  veins.  The  kind 
word  that  bespoke  consolation,  and,  if  there  were 


92        SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

a  need,  forgiveness,  would  make  the  comrades'  eyes 
that  glistened  from  beneath  the  tears  that  cleared 
them  reveal,  far  down  and  deep,  the  sources  of  that 
joy  which  can  be  found  alone  where  spirit  is  discov- 
ered to  the  spirit. 

And  more  than  this,  too,  one  can  say.  It  is  not 
only  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  that  flowing  rivers 
have  an  influence.  It  is  not  only  on  the  earth  that 
generous  actions  waken  a  response.  Like  mists  that 
rise  above  the  sea,  up  through  the  sky  the  effects  of 
every  slightest  contribution  to  the  welfare  of  the 
world  are  borne,  robing  all  one's  visions  of  the 
heavens  in  the  hues  of  a  reflected  glory ;  and,  like  the 
mists,  they,  too,  come  back,  and,  clothed  in  pure  ce- 
lestial garb,  they  rest  upon  the  brink  of  recollection 
in  one's  reveries,  and  brood  above  one's  hope  in 
dreams ;  and  when  he  wakens  in  the  morn  of  action, 
if  they  have  disappeared,  they  have  left  him  merely 
that  like  the  mists  again,  they  may  permeate  anew 
the  springs  of  the  spirit's  energy,  imparting  to  it 
a  purity  of  purpose  and  a  strength  of  will  that  of 
themselves  may  be  an  earnest  and  a  foretaste  of  all 
the  possibilities  of  spiritual  attainment.  In  this  life, 
and  also  in  the  next,  "it  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive." 


VI 

LOVE,  THE  CRITERION  OF  CHRISTIAN  DISCIPLE- 
SHIP 

"By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have 
love  one  to  another. ' ' — John  13  :  35. 

A  personal  possession  of  Christian  life  is  a  mat- 
ter of  so  much  importance  that  it  was  natural  that 
the  followers  of  Jesus  should  desire  a  test  by  which 
to  become  assured  themselves,  and  to  render  others 
assured,  of  their  discipleship.  But  such  a  test  is  by 
no  means  an  easy  thing  to  find.  True  religion  in 
the  soul  is  a  result  so  comprehensive  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  grasp  from  it  any  single  conception  which 
shall  serve  as  a  criterion  by  which  to  estimate  the 
whole. 

On  the  one  hand,  outside  of  self,  true  religion 
implies  a  proper  attitude  of  the  man  toward  God. 
But  what  is  God?  What  vague,  unformulated  ideas 
does  the  mind  ordinarily  frame  of  him?  He  is  the 
God  of  nature ;  but  when  we  try  to  trace  his  attrib- 
utes in  matter,  we  are  lost  in  a  maze  of  multitudi- 
nous forms,  and  a  complexity  of  operations.  He  is 
the  God  of  progress,  but  when  we  attempt  to  spell 
out  the  tale  of  history,  we  are  puzzled  by  the  diverse 
phases  of  the  characters  and  the  intricate  develop- 

93 


94         SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

ments  of  the  plot.  He  is  the  God  of  revelation,  but 
when  we  presume  to  systemize  the  infinite  truth 
condensed  in  the  pages  of  his  word,  we  gaze  into 
a  prism  where  the  scattered  light  in  nature  and  in 
history  has  been  concentrated  in  hues  of  greater 
power  and  beauty,  but,  so  far  are  we  from  gathering 
from  it  a  comprehensive  category  of  his  attributes, 
that  we  are  fully  as  much  dazzled  as  illumined  by 
the  brightness.  We  have  endeavored  to  define  him, 
it  is  true,  and  yet  our  definition,  admirable  as  it  may 
be  as  an  aid  to  imagination,  gives  us  an  apprehen- 
sion of  him  no  more  definite  than  the  few  stars 
which  shine  to  our  short-sighted  vision  in  the  mid- 
night give  us  of  the  boundless  realms  of  light  be- 
yond them.  "God  is  a  Spirit,1  infinite,  eternal  and 
unchangeable  in  his  being. ' '  Tell  me,  what  do  such 
words  mean?  "Wisdom,  power,  holiness,  justice, 
goodness  and  truth" — who  shall  fathom  the  depth, 
the  full  significance,  of  terms  like  these? 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  turn  from  God  to  man, 
here,  too,  we  find  ourselves  in  perplexity.  Religion 
implies  the  proper  attitude  of  the  man  toward  God. 
But  what  is  man?  How  many  phases  and  exercises 
of  thought  and  feeling  does  the  conception  of  him 
imply?  With  all  the  shifting  element  of  his  nature, 
surging  like  the  waves  of  an  ocean  now  one  way 
and  now  another,  physical  tendencies  balanced 
against  mental,  mental  against  spiritual,  determina- 
tion against  indecision,  passion  against  principle, 
doubt  against  faith,  how  shall  we  become  enabled  to 

1  Definition  of  God  in  the  Presbvterian  Westminster  Catechism. 


LOVE    THE    TEST    OF    DISCIPLESHIP         95 

give  due  consideration  to  each  and  to  comprehend 
all  in  a  single  analysis?  It  is  true  that,  no  matter 
how  ruffled  may  be  the  surface  of  a  stream,  if  the 
waters  be  clear,  there  are  times  when  one  can  see 
the  bottom,  if  he  gaze  down  upon  it,  from  a  suffi- 
cient elevation.  After  the  same  manner,  perhaps 
one  might  become  able  to  penetrate  to  the  depths 
of  human  nature.  But  how  shall  he  rise  high 
enough  to  do  so — high  enough  intellectually,  spirit- 
ually, near  enough  to  the  viewpoint  of  God — to  be 
able  to  look  beneath  fickle  appearances,  and  to  de- 
tect what  is  permanent  beneath  them?  Not  only  on 
account  of  what  God  is,  therefore,  but  also  on  ac- 
count of  what  man  is,  religion,  which  implies  a  prop- 
er attitude  of  the  man  toward  God,  is  seen  to  be  a 
result  so  comprehensive  that  it  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  grasp  from  it  any  single  conception  which 
shall  serve  as  a  criterion  by  which  to  estimate  the 
whole. 

Of  course,  many  have  tried  to  originate  criterions, 
both  of  God  and  of  man,  and  of  religion  also.  But 
their  very  differences  respecting  what  the  criterion 
should  be,  their  failures  to  present  a  criterion  uni- 
versally accepted,  show  why  men  should  desire  a 
revelation  from  the  Infinite  One  Himself  concerning 
it.  Some  have  said  of  God  that  he  is  so  great  as 
to  be  utterly  unknowable,  that  we  can  understand 
none  of  his  attributes.  On  the  contrary,  others  have 
implied,  at  least,  that  his  character  has  been  fully 
manifested,— that  we  can  understand  almost  all  that 
is  really  essential  concerning  it.     Of  man,   again, 


96        SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

some  have  claimed  that  he  is  utterly  material  from 
body  through  to  soul;  others  that  he  is  utterly  im- 
material, and  that  even  his  body  and  all  the  solid 
appearances  about  him  are  delusions,  the  results  of 
imagination,  like  phantoms  seen  in  a  dream. 

A  true  conception  of  God  and  of  man,  and,  there- 
fore, of  the  proper  relations  between  them,  lies,  as 
you  see,  in  a  region  beyond  the  possibilities  of  at 
least  complete  human  comprehension.  God  is  infin- 
ite, and  man  is  finite ;  and  yet,  for  this  very  reason, 
because  man  is  finite,  and  because  conceptions,  in- 
finite in  their  reach,  are  incomprehensible  to  him 
otherwise,  he  feels  obliged,  as  it  were,  whenever  they 
are  suggested  to  him,  to  put  them  into  some  definite 
and  finite  shape. 

As  regards  God,  a  man  feels  obliged  to  embody 
his  ideas  of  such  a  Being  in  some  form  that  can  be 
comprehended.  In  other  words,  because  the  man 
can  not  embrace  in  the  sphere  of  comprehension  the 
complete,  infinite,  intangible  essence  of  the  deity 
itself,  his  nature  obliges  him,  as  it  were,  to  substi- 
tute a  proper  attitude  of  mind  toward  some  form 
representing  the  deity,  for  a  proper  attitude  of  mind 
toward  the  deity.  Now  what  shall  this  form  be? 
While  the  Christ  was  on  the  earth,  all  Christians 
hold  that,  in  some  degree  or  manner,  this  form  was 
the  Christ,  and  in  holding  this,  they  recognize  the 
appropriateness — the  conformity  with  the  require- 
ments of  human  nature — of  what  is  termed  the  in- 
carnation. All  Christians  hold,  I  say,  that  the  attri- 
butes of  God,  in  some  way  and  to  some  degree,  were 


LOVE    THE    TEST    OE    DI8CIPLESHIP        97 

imaged  and  revealed,  and  became  sources  of  rever- 
ence, confidence  and  obedience,  in  the  Christ.  But 
the  Christ  is  not  upon  the  earth  today.  What  form 
shall  represent  to  us  that  which  he  represented  to 
the  men  of  Galilee?  He  left  his  church  upon  the 
earth ;  and  certain  church-men,  everywhere,  in  every 
sect,  insist  upon  the  idea  in  conception,  if  not  upon 
the  positive  statement  of  it  in  their  words,  that  the 
church — by  which  they  mean  an  external,  visible 
organization — not  an  internal,  invisible,  sympathetic 
union  of  the  followers  of  the  Christ,  but  the  external 
church — in  some  way  represents  his  presence;  and 
that  reverence,  confidence  and  obedience  exercised 
toward  the  church,  or,  sometimes,  toward  the  offi- 
cials of  the  church,  are  identical  with  reverence,  con- 
fidence and  obedience  exercised  toward  God.  It 
matters  not  whether  the  idea  be  accompanied  by  all 
the  elaborate  ceremonials  of  the  Romanists  or  by 
only  the  simpler  rites  of  the  Protestants,  the  import 
of  it  is  the  same. 

If  we  will  turn  to  the  chapter  in  which  our  text 
occurs,  we  shall  find  it  uttered  immediately  after  the 
institution  of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper; 
the  Sacrament,  as  you  will  recall,  which  is  acknowl- 
edged by  every  church  to  be  the  most  distinctive 
test,  so  far  as  a  church  test  is  concerned,  of  disciple- 
ship.  In  these  circumstances,  provided  that  rever- 
ence, confidence  or  obedience  exercised  toward  any 
ordinance  of  the  church  were  to  become  a  test  of 
true  discipleship,  would  not  the  Christ  have  said  so, 
then  and  there?     Of  course  He  would.     And  what 


98        SUGGESTIONS  FOE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 


did  he  say?  After  ending  the  institution  of  the 
supper,  as  tho  with  deliberate  intent  to  disapprove 
of  any  assumption  on  the  part  of  any  church  simply 
as  an  external  organization  to  represent  himself, 
he  said,  just  at  the  time  when  he  had  the  best  pos- 
sible opportunity  to  point  to  these  elements,  that, 
not  by  partaking  of  them,  but  "by  this  shall  all  men 
know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love,  one 
to  another."  Aside  from  reference  to  other  ordi- 
nances of  the  church  instituted  by  only  the  author- 
ity of  ordinary  men,  we  are  obliged  to  infer,  there- 
fore, that  not  even  a  compliance  with  those  undoubt- 
edly instituted  by  the  founder  of  Christianity,  is  to 
be  taken  as  a  test  of  true  discipleship.  His  test — for 
one  to  apply  to  himself,  and  for  others  to  apply  to 
him — the  Master's  test,  as  he  stated  it,  is  simply 
this:    "If  ye  have  love,  one  to  another." 

It  is  desirable,  wherever  we  can,  to  go  back  of  a 
statement  such  as  this,  in  order  to  ascertain,  if  pos- 
sible, the  reason  underlying  it.  Thus  we  come  to 
have  a  clearer  apprehension  of  the  wisdom  manifest- 
ed in  the  utterance  of  it.  The  Master  implies  that 
reverence,  confidence  and  obedience  exercised  to- 
ward the  church  is  not  a  test  of  discipleship  in  the 
same  sense  as  is  respect,  love  and  service  rendered 
to  a  Christian  brother.  Why  is  this  so?  Why  can 
not  the  church  represent  the  Christ?  And  why  can 
a  Christian  brother  do  it?  Why  can  not  the  church 
represent  God,  and  why  can  a  man  do  it?  What  is 
the  difference  between  the  church  and  manhood  that 
it  should  cause  a  difference  in  the  service  rendered 


LOVE    THE    TEST    OF    DISCIPLESH1P         99 

to  thern?  The  difference  between  the  two  is  evident- 
ly this:  one  is  an  organization  that  has  no  person- 
ality, in  the  sense  of  possessing  thought,  feeling,  and 
will;  the  other  has  all  these;  and  just  in  this  dif- 
ference do  we  detect  the  reason  of  our  Lord's  re- 
mark. The  church  as  an  organization  may  repre- 
sent law,  the  law  of  God.  Its  preachers  may  pro- 
claim this  law ;  its  officers  may  enforce  it ;  its  forms 
may  embody,  and,  if  you  please,  symbolize  it.  But 
the  church  can  do  no  more ;  and  valuable  as  it  may 
prove  as  an  auxiliary  to  enable  men  to  learn,  and 
to  preserve  in  remembrance  from  age  to  age,  the 
duty  that  God  requires  of  man,  it  is  not  all  that  men 
need,  when  they  demand  something  that  shall  do 
the  work  of  representing  God  himself.  For  the  es- 
sence of  the  Christian  religion  consists  in  this:  that 
God  is  considered  to  be  not  a  mere  blind,  unthink- 
ing, unsympathetic  source  of  power  in  the  universe, 
but  one  who  possesses  the  attributes  of  intelligence, 
fatherhood,  sovereignty,1  toward  whom  the  individ- 
ual, therefore,  feels  a  sense  of  spiritual  kinship,  af- 
fection and  responsibility  like  that  of  a  relative,  a 
child,  a  subject. 

Granted  such  a  conception  of  God,  and  the  Church 
becomes  a  powerful  instrumental  agency  in  teaching 
a  man  what  he  should  do  to  obey  Him.  But  the 
Church  cannot  represent  or  stand  in  the  place  of 
God,  simply  because  it  is  not  a  thinking,  feeling, 
willing  representative.  And  if  you  wish  to  furnish  a 
man  with  a  test  as  to  whether  he  loves  God  or  not, 

1Mat.  6  :  9-13. 


100       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

you  must  furnish  him,  not  with  a  mere  set  of  laws, 
but  with  a  living  being  toward  whom  he  can  exercise 
love.  So  true  is  this  statement  as  proved  from  his- 
tory that  in  all  churches  in  which  innovators  have 
begun  to  exalt  the  ceremonial,  the  ritual,  as  stand- 
ing in  the  place  of  the  Christ  or  of  God,  they  have 
ended,  recognizing  the  insufficiency  of  this  medium, 
by  exalting  the  officials  of  the  Church,  the  Priest, 
Bishop,  Patriarch  or  Pope,  and  making  them  the 
representatives  of  that  ideal  of  a  thinking,  feeling, 
willing  sovereign  for  which  in  its  worship,  every 
human  mind  inevitably  craves.  Organization,  ma- 
chinery, ceremonialism,  can  represent  what  is  ma- 
terial only,  not  the  spiritual  God.  If  He  be  not  rep- 
resented in  the  fellow-man  of  a  democratic  form  of 
church  government,  he  will  be  represented  in  the 
exclusive,  arbitrary,  exalted  official  of  an  aristo- 
cratic form.  Which  of  the  two  is  the  true  Biblical 
form  we  can  infer  from  such  passages  as  this  one, 
in  which,  as  you  remember,  that  the  Christ,  while 
describing  the  Judgment,  affirms  that  God  shall  say : 
1 '  Depart *  from  me,  ye  cursed,  for  I  was  an  hungered 
and  ye  gave  me  no  meat ;  I  was  thirsty  and  ye  gave 
me  no  drink;  I  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  not 
in ;  naked  and  ye  clothed  me  not ;  sick  and  in  prison 
and  ye  visited  me  not.  Then  shall  they  answer  him 
saying:  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered  or 
athirst  or  a  stranger  or  naked  or  sick  or  in  prison 
and  did  not  minister  unto  thee.  Then  shall  he 
answer  them  saying,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  inas- 

1Mat.  25  :  41-44. 


LOVE    THE    TEST    OF    DISCIPLESHIP       101 

much  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  those,  ye 
did  it  not  to  me."  And  the  same  language  is  used 
in  a  positive  form  in  another  place.  "Inasmuch1 
as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 

The  claim  that  such  passages  refer  to  an  official 
class  except  as,  in  an  organization,  this  official  class 
may  represent  the  authority  of  all,  is  on  a  par  with 
the  claim  that  confession  to  only  one  of  this  class  is 
enjoined  by  the  words,  "Confess  2  your  faults  one  to 
another," — the  very  thing  that,  where  an  official  in- 
terferes, is  never  done.  The  man  who  feels  that  he 
can  be  fully  forgiven  by  one  such  official,  in  an  offi- 
cial and  so  a  formal  way,  is  the  very  last  man  to  go 
to  his  unofficial  neighbor  whom  he  has  wronged,  aud 
tell  him  the  truth  about  his  conduct,  and  strive  to 
obtain  his  forgiveness.  But,  perhaps,  some  of  you 
may  ask,  "How  do  you  interpret  such  a  passage  as 
'Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind3  on  earth  shall  be 
bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on 
earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven';  or,  what  is  to  the 
same  effect,  'Whose  soever4  sins  ye  remit,  they  are 
remitted'? — The  first  was  uttered  to  the  Apostle 
Peter." — Yes,  but  the  second  was  uttered,  at  another 
time,  to  all  the  Apostles  together;  and,  at  still  an- 
other, the  same  in  effect  was  uttered  to  all  of  a  mis- 
cellaneous crowd 5  of  listeners.  It  seems  to  me,  too, 
that  all  three  statements  thus  uttered,  like  almost 
everything  else  that  reason  should  accept,  can  be 

1Mat.  25  :  40.  2  James  5  :  16;   compare  also  Mat.  18  :  15. 

3  Mat.   16  :  19.  4.lno.  20  :  23.  5  Mat.    18  :  15-20. 


102       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

proved  to  be  true,  and  to  be  true  today,  by  facts.  It 
would  be  strange  if  there  were  not  some  of  you  be- 
fore me  now,  who,  at  some  time  in  your  lives,  have 
been  conscious  of  weakly  yielding  to  temptation, 
conscious  of  having  done  wrong,  and,  in  some  way, 
of  being  wrong  in  your  own  natures ;  and  it  would 
be  strange  if  then  you  had  not  gone  to  some  good 
man  or  woman  that  you  knew — perhaps  a  church  of- 
ficial, perhaps  not — and,  upon  confession,  been  as- 
sured that  he  or  she  forgave  you ;  and  that  God,  too, 
would  forgive  you  and  strengthen  you  to  resist 
temptation  in  the  future ;  and  it  would  be  strange  if 
then,  as  a  result,  you  had  not  felt  that  your  own  sin 
was,  as  a  fact,  remitted;  that  your  soul  was  no 
longer  weighed  down  by  the  burden  of  it;  that  you 
could  go  away  with  a  light  heart,  and  with  a  new 
and  heavenly  purpose.  I  tell  you,  friends,  that 
wherever  the  work  of  the  Christ  is,  we  find  him  ex- 
alting the  influence  of  common  humanity,  not  of  un- 
common inhumanity  that  so  often  claims  a  crown  or 
a  miter  for  itself,  and  for  itself  alone. 

I  say  that  we  find  our  Lord  exalting  common  hu- 
manity; and  yet,  it  is  a  fact  that  in  this  term — com- 
mon humanity,  used  in  connection  with  our  present 
thought — we  can  include  every  member  of  our  human 
race  so  far  alone  as  we  conceive  him  to  embody,  as 
the  Lord  did,  the  spirit  of  divinity.  It  is  only 
the  good,  the  spiritual  man,  whose  assurance  of  for- 
giveness men  accept.  "As  many  as  are  led  by  the 
Spirit  of  God1  they,"  and  they  only,  are  recognized 

1  Rom.  8  :  14. 


LOVE    THE    TEST    OF    DISCIPLESHIP       103 

to  be  "the  sons  of  God."  The  words  of  the  Master 
are:  "By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my 
disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  toward  another."  Ac- 
cording to  him,  they  are  known  to  be  disciples,  not 
because  they  are  partizans  of  sects,  wrangling  most, 
perhaps,  with  those  of  their  own  denomination — not 
because  of  .this,  whether  they  belong  to  the  party 
that  seems  to  wish  to  resolve  all  Christian  thought 
into  an  act  of  memory,  or  to  the  party  that  seems  to 
wish  to  transform  all  Christian  life  into  a  dress  pa- 
rade. If  anything,  such  people  prove  that  they  are 
not  disciples.  Nor  are  they  known  to  be  these,  be- 
cause they  are  declaimers  in  public  of  some  creed, 
saying,  "I  believe  in"  this  or  that — which  often 
means  about  as  much — has  as  much  to  do  with  what 
is  in  their  souls — as  a  chip  bounding  up  and  down 
upon  the  waves  has  to  do  with  what  is  in  the  bottom 
of  the  sea.  No ;  they  are  known  to  be  disciples,  not 
because  of  these  things,  but  because  they  have  love 
one  to  another.  One  to  another — who  are  these  lat- 
ter? All  humanity?  Yes,  in  a  certain  sense,  but,  in 
another  and  peculiar  sense,  it  must  mean  those  who 
have  proved  themselves  to  be  spiritually  the  fol- 
lowers, the  disciples  of  the  Christ. 

And  who  are  these?  The  answer  to  this  question 
brings  us  to  the  second  part  of  our  subject.  The 
necessity  of  a  revealed  test  of  discipleship  as  shown 
from  the  comprehensiveness,  not  only  of  the  attri- 
butes of  God,  but  also  of  the  elements  entering  into 
what  is  termed  man,  whose  proper  attitude  toward 
God  is  implied  in  the  conception  of  religion. 


104       SUGGESTIONS  FOB   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

AVliat,  then,  is  man?  Or,  ratner,  by  what  can  we, 
by  what  do  we  estimate  that  part  of  him  that  has 
to  do  with  religion?  A  man  is  not  a  mere  manifes- 
tation of  some  one  habit,  opinion  or  emotion,  but  of 
many  of  these  combined ;  and  we  estimate  him  by  the 
resultant  of  all  these  exercises,  by  what  we  term  his 
character.  We  do  this  when  judging  of  his  ordinary 
life;  why  should  we  not  do  so  when  judging  of  his 
religious  life?  And  what,  now,  is  the  test  of  char- 
acter? If  we  think  about  the  subject  a  moment  we 
shall  find  that  we  can  form  hardly  any  estimate  of  it 
at  all,  in  the  case  of  an  individual,  except  as  we  view 
him  when  he  is  brought  into  contact  with  one  or 
more  other  individuals.  A  man's  character,  we  say, 
is  evinced  in  the  shake  of  his  hand,  his  bow,  his 
walk,  his  words,  his  opinions,  his  likes,  his  dislikes, 
his  indications  of  indignation,  of  pleasure,  of  pas- 
sion, of  indifference;  but  how  and  when  is  a  man's 
character  evinced  by  these  things?  Always,  when 
we  consider  him  in  his  relations  to  other  men.  If 
his  manner  indicate  an  intention  to  be  kind  to  them ; 
his  expression  in  word  and  deed  a  desire  to  en- 
lighten and  benefit  them;  if  his  likes  be  awakened  by 
goodness  in  them,  his  dislikes  by  badness  in  them, 
his  indignation  by  meanness  in  them,  his  ingratitude 
by  generosity  in  them,  then  we  esteem  him  for  his 
character.  Accordingly,  we  see  a  double  reason  why 
the  test  of  the  discipleship  of  the  Christ  should  con- 
sist in  love  one  to  another ;  not  merely  because,  now 
that  the  Christ  is  no  longer  visible,  each  Christian 
brother  is  the  best  embodiment  of  what  is  personal  in 


LOVE    THE    TEST    OF    DISCIPLESHIP       105 

God,  but  also  because  such  a  manifestation  toward  a 
person  is  the  surest  test  of  character  in  any  circum- 
stances. 

"By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  dis- 
ciples, if  ye  have  love,  one  to  another."  Our  subject 
suggests  its  own  lessons  of  warning  in  view  of  false 
professions,  and  of  the  necessity  for  watchfulness 
in  view  of  future  temptations.  I  need  not  dwell 
upon  them.  Let  me  ask  you  only,  as  regards  one's 
own  Christian  experience,  is  there  not  a  great  deal 
of  consolation  to  be  drawn  from  this  test  as  thus  ex- 
pressed by  our  Lord?  When,  for  instance,  we  are 
passing  through  one  of  those  transient  periods  of 
doubt,  that,  like  cloudy  days,  obscure,  at  times,  the 
horizon  of  every  experience,  is  it  not  a  blessed  privi- 
lege to  be  able  to  turn  aside  from  investigations  and 
introspections,  from  arguments  concerning  churches, 
forms,  creeds  and  dogmas,  from  meditation  upon  re- 
pentance, regeneration,  forgiveness  and  assurance 
of  faith,  to  these  plain,  simple  words,  "If  ye  have 
love  one  to  another,"  or  to  the  same  thought  as  ex- 
prest  by  the  Apostle  John,  "We  know  that  we 
have  passed  from  death *  unto  life  because  we  love 
the  brethren."  Is  it  not  an  easy  thing  to  ask  one's 
self,  do  I  love  every  man  who  seems  to  embody  in 
his  character  the  loving  spirit  of  the  Master?  Do  I 
love  him,  not  because  he  is  like  myself,  not  because 
he  sympathizes  with  myself,  not  because  he  has  be- 
stowed benefits  upon  me,  not  because  he  values  my 
character  or  even  esteems  my  friendship, — do  I  love 

1 1  Jno.   3  :  14. 


106       SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

him,  even  tbo,  owing  to  misapprehensions  of  my 
character,  he  may  dislike  me?  Do  I  love  him,  irre- 
spective of  any  selfish  considerations,  and  do  all  that 
I  can,  in  business  and  social  life,  to  evince  my  love 
for  him,  simply  because  I  recognize  in  him  the  mani- 
festation of  the  "fruit1  of  the  spirit, — love,  joy, 
peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith, 
meekness,  temperance."  If  so,  then  I  have  the  as- 
surance of  the  Christ  that  this  feeling  on  my  part 
is  one  test  of  the  fact  that  I  sympathize  with  him 
and  am  his  disciple. 

The  longer  one  meditates  upon  the  text  before  us, 
the  more  firm  will  become  his  conviction  of  the  truth 
of  the  great  principle  that  underlies  the  criterion  to 
which  it  gives  expression, — that  humanity  must  learn 
to  measure  its  love  for  the  Christ  by  its  love  for  man. 
Whether  he  be  conscious  of  it  or  not,  I  think  it  will 
be  found  that  everyone,  in  forming  a  conception  of 
the  Christ,  imagines  to  himself  an  ideal  man,  perfect 
in  every  lineament,  an  ideal,  modified  according  to 
one's  knowledge  of  revealed  or  of  scientific  truth; 
but,  at  best,  an  ideal.  This  ideal  within  his  own  soul 
furnishes  him  with  all  that  he  can  know  of  the 
Christ  that  is  dwelling  within  him,  and  it  is  to  this 
ideal  Christ  ruling  him  within,  restraining  him 
through  conscience,  stimulating  him  through  aspira- 
tion, to  which  if  he  be  a  Christian,  he  really  gives 
his  first  allegiance.  If  this  be  so,  it  is  evident  also 
that,  in  the  degree  in  which  the  ideal  is  verified  or 
modified  by  the  manifestations  of  Christ-like  traits 

IGal.  5  :  22. 


LOVE    THE    TEST    OF    D1SC1PLESHIP       107 

in  others — in  the  degree  in  which  the  spirit  of  the 
Christ  embodied  in  them  awakens  one's  own  love  and 
stimulates  one's  own  zeal — in  that  degree  does  he 
show  the  exact  influence  exerted  over  his  mind  and 
heart  by  the  Christ  himself. 

Now,  friends,  would  we  know  whether  or  not  we 
are  Christians?  How  shall  we  become  aware  of  our 
love  for  the  Christ  and  for  God?  First,  let  us  ask 
ourselves,  what  think  we  of  Christ?  Are  we  sure 
that  our  ideal  is  an  accurate  one?  Would  the  his- 
toric Christ  be  our  friend  if  he  were  dwelling  with 
us  today,  and  were  he  to  lead,  relatively,  the  same 
kind  of  a  life  as  that  which  he  led  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago  in  Palestine?  And  then,  let  us  ask  our- 
selves, do  we  admire  those  who  live  among  us  today 
in  the  degree  in  which  they  manifest  traits  similar 
to  those  that  he  manifested?  If  so,  why  can  not  we 
accept  this  fact  as  a  verification  of  the  existence 
within  us  of  that  love  one  to  another  mentioned  in 
our  text?  What  more  acceptable  homage  can  we 
make  to  God  than  to  transfer  to  him  the  feeling  that 
we  have  for  our  earthly  friends — to  worship  him  as 
we  do  the  object  of  attachment  in  the  early  zeal  of 
our  devotedness?  Imagine  human  love  transfigured 
— is  not  that  heaven?  Imagine  the  object  of  human 
love  transfigured — is  not  that  God? 

And  if  there  be  consolation  to  be  drawn  from  the 
possession  of  this  clear  test  given  in  the  text,  is 
there  not  also  stimulus  to  be  drawn  from  it?  What 
my  Christian  friend  is  to  me,  I  am  to  him.  If,  so 
far  as  he  be  spiritual,  his  good  qualities  represent 


108      SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

the  Christ  dwelling  in  him  for  me  to  love,  so  far  as 
I  may  be  the  same,  my  good  qualities  may  represent 
the  Christ  to  him.  As  the  Apostle  Paul  says.  ''For 
me  to  live"  is  not  for  a  mere  man  to  live,  but  for 
Christ  to  live.  "For  me  to  live  a  is  Christ."  This  is 
the  religion  of  humanity  in  the  best  sense  as 
preached  by  the  greatest  of  the  apostles  to  hu- 
manity. Let  parents  see  to  it,  then,  that  they  be 
to  each  of  their  family  what  the  Eternal  Father  of 
all  living  creatures  is  to  them.  Let  the  children  of 
the  household  see  to  it  that  they  be  to  each  member 
of  the  household  what  the  Christ,  the  elder  brother, 
is  to  them.  Let  those  of  society,  of  the  state,  of  the 
world,  see  to  it  that  they  be,  in  all  of  these  relations, 
like  the  one  who  went  about  doing  good,  who  was 
the  prince  of  peace,  who  bore — bore  with,  as  well  as 
carried — the  sins  of  the  whole  world. 

Ah,  friends,  when  mankind  shall  come  to  embody 
these  conceptions,  we  shall  hear  little  more  about 
churches  without  Christ  as  their  head,  or  about  the- 
ological systems  that  put  intellectual  speculation  in 
the  place  of  spiritual  life.  Not  human  organiza- 
tions, not  brains,  need  chiefly  to  be  righted.  Our 
hearts  are  empty.  They  need  the  Sovereign.  Nay, 
I  may  say  more.  It  is  not  so  much  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth  that  we  need  before  we  shall  be  sat- 
isfied, awaking  in  the  image  of  the  Christ.  It  is  the 
Christ,  himself,  that  we  need  to  descend  into  all  our 
hearts  here,  beneath  this  old  heaven  and  in  this  old 

1  Phil.  1  :  21. 


LOVE    THE    TEST    OF    DISCIPLESHIP       109 

earth.  When  Moses 1  came  down  from  Sinai,  when 
Jesus 2  stood  upon  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration, 
they  did  not  need  to  drop  their  physical  surround- 
ings in  order  to  have  their  visages  shine  like  those 
of  angels.  Neither  do  we.  Accept  the  Christ;  love 
the  Christ;  live  the  Christ  for  your  own  sakes  and 
for  the  sake  of  those  about  you.  So  far  as  you  and 
the  other  members  of  the  community  in  which  you 
dwell  do  this,  your  own  household  will  become  akin 
to  heaven  itself,  and  you  yourself  be  seated  as  cer- 
tainly upon  a  throne  of  love,  reigning  as  securely  to 
the  eyes  of  God,  if  not  to  those  of  men,  as  if  you 
already  had  been  transported  past  the  beacons  of 
the  celestial  city,  and  were  already  encircled  by  its 
flaming  battlements. 

1  Ex.    34  :  29.  2  Mark   9  :  2,  3. 


VII 

THE    FOEMATIVE    EFFECTS    OF    THE    CHUECH'S 

FORMS 

"He  said  unto  them:  Go,  show  yourselves  unto  the  priests;  and  it 
came  to  pass  that,  as  they  went,  they  were  cleansed." — Luke  17:  14. 

The  narrative  of  which  our  text  forms  a  part  is 
briefly  related  in  the  words  of  Scripture  as  fol- 
lows: "And  it  came  to  pass  as  he," — i.  e.,  Jesus, 
"went  to  Jerusalem,  that  he  passed  through  the 
midst  of  Samaria  and  Galilee.  And,  as  he  entered 
into  a  certain  village,  there  met  him  ten  men  that 
were  lepers,  which  stood  afar  off;  and  they  lifted 
up  their  voices  and  said,  'Jesus,  Master,  have  mercy 
on  us.'  And  when  he  saw  them,  he  said  unto  them, 
'  Go,  show  yourselves  unto  the  priests. '  And  it  came 
to  pass  that  as  they  went  they  were  cleansed." 

The  peculiar  characteristics  of  a  man  are  mani- 
fested more  or  less  in  everything  that  he  does.  With 
greater  or  less  distinctness,  the  same  general  meth- 
ods of  thought  can  be  traced  in  the  development  of 
all  his  plans.  In  literature,  we  say  of  a  passage  that 
it  is  like  Shakespeare  or  like  Goethe.  In  military 
affairs,  we  say  that  a  maneuver  was  a  characteristic 
one  for  a  Napoleon,  or  for  a  Frederick  the  Great. 
If  this  be  the  case  with  men,  it  is  legitimate  to  infer 
that  it  is  so  with  the  Divine  Being;  that  he  must 

110 


* 


CHURCH   FORMS  111 

have  one  wisest  way  of  doing  all  things.  Indeed,  it 
ought  to  be  more  so  with  the  divine  than  with  human 
beings,  because,  presumably,  he  never  can  err  in 
his  judgments,  and  he  never  needs  to  change  his 
methods  for  the  purpose  of  experiment.  Accord- 
ingly, in  the  unfolding  of  life  in  the  human  mind,  or 
in  the  general  history  of  the  world,  we  ought  not 
to  be  surprised  to  find  the  same  processes  of  devel- 
opment. Or,  if  we  turn  to  inanimate  nature,  we 
ought  not  to  be  surprised  to  find,  from  the  growth  of 
a  plant  to  that  of  the  remotest  star  visible,  the  pres- 
ence of  the  same  general  laws. 

The  writings  of  such  men  as  Buckle,  showing  the 
influence  of  law  in  history,  and  of  Darwin,  showing 
the  influence  of  law  in  nature,  are  supposed  by  some 
to  be  detrimental  to  religious  faith.  On  the  con- 
trary, with  exception  of  a  few  individual  deductions 
of  their  own,  which  all  intelligent  men  acknowledge 
to  be  as  yet  unsubstantiated,  in  every  case  in  which 
these  writers  confine  themselves  to  simple  statements 
of  facts  as  perceived  in  history  or  in  nature,  they 
present  strong  arguments  in  favor  of  religion,  inas- 
much as  they  present  clearly  the  conception  that  one 
source  of  law,  perfect  in  wisdom,  and  hence  immu- 
table in  the  general  outlines  of  methods,  controls  all 
the  arrangements  and  operations  of  the  universe. 
Faith  in  the  unity  and  universality  of  these  methods 
is  the  source  of  all  that  is  most  beautiful  and  forci- 
ble in  the  analogies  of  poetry,  philosophy,  science  or 
history,  and  this  faith  is  no  more  vital  to  the  devel- 
opment of  them  than  to  thai  of  Christianity. 


112      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

All  who  believe  in  the  divinity  of  our  Lord's  mis- 
sion must  believe  that  the  psychic  method — a  method 
recognized  even  by  scientists  of  our  own  day  to  be 
in  certain  cases  effective — that  this  method  which 
he  applied  in  order  to  remedy  physical  disorder, 
must  be  analogous,  in  its  general  features,  to  the 
method  that  should  be  applied  to  spiritual  disorders. 
Moreover,  leprosy,  with  which  he  was  dealing  in  the 
cases  instanced  in  connection  with  our  text,  was  con- 
ventionally regarded  by  the  Jews  as  especially  sym- 
bolical of  sin.  That  this  method  of  regarding  it  was 
authorized,  too,  by  their  religion  is  evident  from  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  treated  in  the  Old  Testament. 
Accordingly,  there  is  both  a  general  and  a  specific 
reason  why  we  have  a  right  this  morning  to  consider 
this  narrative  as  having  a  distinctively  spiritual 
significance. 

There  are  three  thoughts  that  seem  suggested  by 
the  manner  in  which  the  disease,  in  these  cases,  was 
cured.  First:  those  afflicted  by  it  were  told  to  do 
something  in  itself  of  no  avail:  "Go,  show  your- 
selves unto  the  priests."  These  men  had  heard,  un- 
doubtedly, about  the  Great  Prophet  who  was  accus- 
tomed to  touch  men  afflicted  by  the  palsy,  and  who 
had  anointed  with  clay  the  eyes  of  the  blind.  They 
undoubtedly  expected  that  some  such  operation 
would  be  performed  upon  themselves.  Instead  of 
this,  imagine  their  surprise  when  they  were  told 
simply  to  go  and  show  themselves  unto  the  priests. 
As  men  of  common  sense,  the  first  impression  that 
would  be  conveyed  to  them  might  be  that  they  could 


CHURCH   FORMS  113 

show  themselves  to  a  priest  until  doomsday  with- 
out its  doing  them  any  good. 

This  idea  of  what  must  have  been  their  impression 
is  confirmed  when  we  turn  to  the  second  thought 
that  the  narrative  suggests,  which  is  that  they  were 
told  to  do  something  which  any  one  else  could  have 
told  them  to  do,  something  according  to  the  regular 
routine  of  the  treatment  of  leprosy  under  the  Jewish 
dispensation, — something  which,  very  likely,  they 
had  done  already.  "Go  to  the  priests."  Every  leper 
went  to  the  priests.  In  the  13th  chapter  of  Leviti- 
cus are  given  the  laws  by  which  the  priests,  who 
exercised  the  functions,  ajDparently,  of  a  board  of 
health,  were  to  be  guided  in  dealing  with  symptoms 
of  this  disease.  If  there  had  been  a  mistake,  and 
the  tokens  were  not  those  of  leprosy,  the  patient 
was  to  be  discharged.  If  there  were  doubt,  he  was 
to  be  kept  in  confinement  for  one  or  two  weeks,  and 
then  to  be  re-examined.  If  there  were  no  doubt,  he 
was  to  be  declared  a  leper,  and  to  be  exiled  from 
places  where  contagion  with  him  might  prove  dan- 
gerous to  others.  Of  this  latter  class,  apparently, 
were  these  lepers  which  "stood  afar  off."  They 
had  been  to  the  priests ;  why  go  again,  unless  they 
could  show  themselves  healed?  And  when  the  com- 
mand was  given  they  had  not  been  healed;  why, 
before  going,  should  they  not  wait  until  they  were 
healed? 

The  third  thought  that  the  narrative  suggests  is 
that,  although  they  were  told  to  do  something  in 
itself  of  no  avail,  and  something  according  to  the 


114      SUGGESTIONS  FOB  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

regular  routine  of  the  Jewish  dispensation,  never- 
theless their  being  cleansed  was  directly  conditioned 
upon  their  action,  as  directly  as  if  the  connection 
between  going  and  being  cleansed  had  been  as  close 
as  that  between  cause  and  effect.  "As  they  went 
they  were  cleansed."  It  is  not  said  that  their  going 
caused  the  cleansing,  but  it  is  clearly  implied  that, 
if  they  had  not  gone,  the  power  that  caused  the 
cleansing  would  not  have  been  exerted. 

Let  us  examine  these  three  thoughts  thus  sug- 
gested, and  find  if  we  can  derive  from  them  any 
truths  of  practical  importance.  In  order  to  do  so, 
let  us  try  to  ascertain,  in  the  first  place,  some  of  the 
reasons  why  it  was  natural  that  the  Master  should 
adopt  this  particular  method.  Why,  in  the  first 
place,  were  the  lepers  told  to  do  something  in  itself 
of  no  avail?  Simply,  as  it  seems  to  me,  because 
there  was  nothing  which  they  could  do,  no  means  by 
which  they  could  heal  themselves.  And  they  were 
thus  plainly  told  to  do  something  in  itself  of  no 
avail,  in  order  that  their  attention  might  be  directed 
to  this  fact.  Had  they  been  touched,  they  might 
have  ascribed  their  cure  to  some  power  of  human 
magnetism.  Had  they  been  ordered  to  wash  in 
water,  they  might  have  imagined  some  healing  effi- 
cacy to  reside  in  the  water.  Instead  of  these  things, 
they  are  told  simply  to  go  and  show  themselves  to 
the  priests.  The  command  was  given,  as  I  conceive, 
to  have  a  negative  effect  upon  them,  to  direct  their 
thoughts  away  from  false  sources  of  cure. 

Why,  in  the  second  place,  were  they  told  to  do 


CHURCH   FORMS  115 

something  according  to  the  regular  routine  of  the 
Jewish  dispensation?  Was  not  this  course  pursued, 
in  turn,  in  order  to  produce  a  positive  effect  upon 
them — i.  e.,  to  concentrate  their  thoughts  upon  the 
true  source  of  cure,  because  this  was  the  source  of 
the  laws  concerning  the  treatment  of  leprosy  which 
they  were  about  to  fulfil?  Did  not  the  Master,  in 
recognizing  the  propriety  of  obedience  to  these 
laws,  intend  to  direct  their  thoughts  away  from  him- 
self, so  far  as  concerned  his  merely  physical  pos- 
sibilities, and  to  turn  them  toward  his  spiritual 
possibilities,  which  it  was  his  desire  to  emphasize? 

And  why  did  it  happen,  in  the  third  place,  that 
after  their  thoughts  had  been  withdrawn  from  false 
sources  of  cure  and  concentrated  upon  the  true 
source,  that,  as  a  sequence  of  this,  ''as  they  went 
they  were  cleansed?'  What  connection  could  there 
be  between  withdrawal  and  concentration,  and  a  re- 
sult of  this  sort?  The  question  appears,  at  first,  to 
be  unanswerable.  Nevertheless,  there  are  some  an- 
alogies in  nature  and  human  life  which  may  serve 
to  throw  light  upon  a  problem  even  as  difficult  as 
this. 

One  such  analogy  is  furnished  by  the  experience  of 
the  mind  in  a  purely  intellectual  effort.  How  does  a 
man  set  out  to  compose  an  essay,  or  to  solve  a  math- 
ematical problem?  First,  he  withdraws  his  thoughts 
from  all  subjects  that  are  irrelevant-  to  the  subject 
in  hand ;  then,  he  concentrates  his  thoughts  as  close- 
ly as  he  can,  upon  it ;  and  then,  after  that,  what  fol- 
lows?   Why,  then,  something  occurs  to  him,  as  he 


116      SUGGESTIONS  FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

says.  The  method  of  proof,  if  it  be  logical;  the 
method  of  computation,  if  it  be  mathematical,  seems 
to  flash  upon  his  mind.  It  seems  to  be  added  to  his 
experience  from  another  source  than  himself,  as 
clearly  so  as  if  he  could  hear  it  whispered  by  some 
friend  beside  him.  The  mind,  by  thus  separating 
itself  from  all  irrelevant  topics,  and  concentrating 
upon  the  one  before  it,  appears,  as  it  were,  to  force 
itself  up  into  a  region  near  to  the  truth  that  is 
sought,  a  region  charged  with  trains  of  thought,  like 
lines  of  electricity  in  the  clouds,  which  come  pouring 
in  from  all  directions.  If  only  one's  thought  can 
hold  itself  long  enough  in  this  region,  by  and  by 
there  comes  a  line  like  a  flash  of  light  through 
which  the  mind  can  look,  and  at  a  glance,  per- 
ceive, illuminated,  the  truth  for  which  it  is  in 
search.  But  all  that  a  man  can  do  toward  effecting 
this  result  is  to  abstract  and  concentrate  his  thought. 
When  once  in  the  region  desired,  the  range  of  his 
information,  and  his  natural  capacity  for  detecting 
relations,  will  determine  the  degree  of  his  success. 
Indeed,  one  might  almost  say  that  the  chief  object 
of  education,  aside  from  imparting  information,  is 
the.  training  of  these  powers  of  abstraction  and  of 
concentration,  and  that  one's  ability  to  hold  himself 
long  in  one  region  of  thought  is  the  measure  of  his 
intellectual  power.  Some  of  the  greatest  mathema- 
ticians and  philosophers — Kepler,  for  instance — 
have  been  accustomed  to  force  their  thoughts  into 
the  desired  region  before  going  to  bed  at  night, 
affirming  that,  after  the  mind  has  attended  to  the 


CHURCH   FORMS  117 

subject  during  all  its  dreams,  the  solution  lias  come 
without  effort  in  the  morning.  In  fact,  most  men 
might  sum  up  the  history  of  all  their  intellectual  ap- 
prehensions of  truth  by  saying:  "As  I  went  on 
to  think" — to  abstract  and  concentrate  my  thought 
— ' '  it  occurred  to  me. ' ' 

It  is  evidently  natural  that  the  same  process 
should  be  according  to  law  in  the  apprehension  of 
spiritual  truth.  There  are  those  about  us  who  need 
conversion  and  regeneration.  How  can  these  be 
given  them?  Only,  as  we  all  admit,  by  putting  them 
in  circumstances  where  they  shall  apprehend  spirit- 
ual truth,  and  be  inspired  to  embody  it  in  their 
methods  of  life.  How  can  these  things  be  done? 
How  better  than  by  pursuing  the  very  course  pur- 
sued, according  to  this  narrative,  by  the  Master: 
First,  by  directing  their  thoughts  away  from  merely 
material  or  human  as  distinguished  from  spiritual 
or  divine  methods  of  cure;  second,  by  directing  their 
actions  toward  the  fulfilment  of  duties,  secular  or 
religious,  of  which  they  already  know;  and,  third, 
by  leaving  them,  when  thus  directed  in  thought 
and  conduct,  in  a  position  where  it  is  as  philosophi- 
cal as  it  is  religious  to  suppose  that  the  time  will 
soon  come  when  it  can  be  said  of  them  that,  as  they 
went,  they  were  cleansed.  These  seem  to  be  the  les- 
sons taught  by  the  narrative  that  we  are  now  con- 
sidering; and  I  wish  to  derive  from  it  certain  sug- 
gestions with  reference  to  the  methods  adopted  by 
the  Church  in  dealing  with  the  disease  which  we 
term  sin. 


118      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  narrative  can  suggest  to  us, 
in  the  first  place,  the  degree  of  efficacy  that  should 
be  attributed  to  the  methods,  whether  in  the  way  of 
worship  or  work,  that,  through  sacraments  and  ordi- 
nances, are  prescribed  by  the  Church  for  its  mem- 
bers.   Here,  as  in  almost  everything  else,  two  ex- 
tremes are  to  be  avoided — one  that  regards  the  pre- 
scribed forms  as  of  avail  in  themselves,  and   the 
other  that  regards  them  as  of  no  avail  whatever. 
Most  people  who  think  would  probably  agree  in  con- 
cluding that  they  are  not  of  avail  in  themselves;  that 
Christianity  is  of  no  use,  unless  it  makes  men  better 
for  ordinary  life,  and  that,  as  contributing  to  the 
betterment  of  this,  one  could  read  his  Bible  in  every 
leisure  moment,  continue  all  night  at  his  prayers, 
bathe  in  a  baptismal  font  every  morning,  and  make 
every  meal  commemorative  of  the  Last  Supper ;  and 
yet  that  these  mere  forms  of  themselves  without 
anything  in  addition,  could  do  him  no  good.    Expe- 
rience and  common  sense  both  seem  to  teach  this, 
and  Christianity  effects  little,  except  as  it  embodies 
common  sense  directed  into  channels  of  religion.    A 
man  might  come  and  show  himself  to  the  priests  in 
a  temple,  or  to  the  ministers  in  a  church,  every  Sun- 
day of  his  life,  and  these  could  do  no  more  for  him 
than  the  Levites  who  could  examine,  but  could  not 
heal,  the  disease  of  leprosy. 

There  seem  to  be  good  reasons,  therefore,  under- 
lying the  theories  of  those  who  hold  that  every  at- 
tempt to  clothe  the  means  of  grace,  as  they  are 
termed,  with  a  false  sanctity,  or  to  ascribe  efficacious 


CHURCH    FORMS  119 

results  to  an  unthinking  use  of  them  is  a  perversion 
of  their  purpose.  If  one  be  told  that  there  is  a 
spiritual  efficacy  residing  in  the  water  of  baptism, 
he  may  be  persuaded  more  easily  than  otherwise 
that  his  child  or  himself  should  be  baptized;  but 
there  is  danger  in  this  case  that  he  may  be  led  to 
look  only  at  the  water,  and  forget  about  the  God 
who  alone  can  regenerate  the  soul.  If  one  be  told 
again  that  in  the  communion  he  partakes  of  the  real 
body  of  the  Lord,  he  may  more  readily  apprehend 
how  he  can  assimilate  the  traits  of  that  body 
into  his  own;  but  there  is  danger  in  this  case 
that  he  may  be  led  to  think  only  of  the  wafer  and 
forget  about  the  God  who  alone  can  nourish  the 
spirit. 

This  is  one  extreme  to  be  avoided.  The  other  is 
that  of  regarding  what  are  termed  the  means  of 
grace  as  of  no  avail  whatever.  As  a  fact,  to  the  soul 
they  are  of  as  much  avail  as  the  majority  of 
things  with  which  we  have  to  deal.  Few  are  val- 
uable in  themselves;  all,  at  times,  may  become  val- 
uable as  tokens.  Who  of  us  desires  his  friends,  for 
instance,  to  bestow  upon  him  gifts  chiefly  remark- 
able for  their  price ;  or  words  chiefly  noteworthy  for 
the  fulsomeness  of  their  flattery.  Rather  than  this, 
we  should  prefer  one  of  the  thousand  flowers  that 
grow  upon  every  hedge,  and  the  smallest  kind  word 
that  ever  taxed  the  movement  of  a  breath.  We 
value  our  friend's  gifts  and  words,  not  because  of 
what  they  are  in  themselves,  but  because  of  what 
they  are  as  tokens.     So  with  the  forms  prescribed 


120       SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

by  the  church.  The  emblems  in  the  sacraments  are 
as  simple  and  as  ordinary  as  anything  of  which  we 
know.  Water  and  bread  are  so  simple  and  ordinary 
that  one  would  not  suppose  that  a  child  could  ascribe 
any  efficacy  to  them ;  and  yet  how  sublimely  they  may 
affect  one  when  he  regards  them  as  tokens  of  an  in- 
terchange of  love  between  the  soul  of  man  and  of 
God!  "Go  show  yourselves  unto  the  priests ; ' '  " Not 
forgetting  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together;"  1 
"Repent  and  be  baptized;"2  "This  do  in  remem- 
brance of  Me;"3  very  simple  actions,  these! — but 
when  considering  the  circumstances  in  which  they 
were  ordered,  how  can  a  rational  man  say  that  they 
are  not  important?  A  small  silk  flag,  attached  to  a 
frail  pole,  is  not,  in  itself,  a  formidable  weapon.  But 
when  used  as  an  emblem, — when  waved  in  battle  at 
the  head  of  a  regiment, — he  would  show  very  little 
knowledge  of  human  nature  who  should  say  that  it 
could  be  of  no  avail ! 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  subject  before  us  may  sug- 
gest, in  the  second  place,  the  relation  sustained  by 
the  observance  of  the  ordinances  and  sacraments  of 
the  Church  to  character  in  general.  Going  to  the 
priests  did  not  cleanse  the  lepers.  They  were 
healed  because  it  came  to  pass  that,  "as  they  went 
they  were  cleansed"  by  spiritual  power.  Applying 
this  principle  to  a  church  form,  we  can  argue,  first, 
that  those  who  have  clearly  recognized  it  as  a  con- 
dition preceding  cleansing  ought  to  fulfil  it;  and, 
second,  because  the  form  is  of  no  avail  in  itself,  and 

1  Heb.  10  :  25.  a  Act  2  :  38.  3  Luke  22  :  19. 


CHURCH    FORMS  121 

because  all  the  power  exerted  is  spiritual,  we  can  ar- 
gue that  those  who  have  not  recognized  the  form  as 
a  condition  can  be  cleansed  without  fulfilling  it. 
As  the  Apostle  Paul  says,  "Those  who  have  no 
law *  are  a  law  unto  themselves. ' '  This  is  a  reason 
why  a  man  can  be,  in  the  strictest  sense,  an  adher- 
ent of  a  church,  and  yet,  in  the  broadest  sense,  chari- 
table toward  those  who  are  not  adherents  of  it.  He 
can  urge  upon  all  the  propriety  and  the  rationality 
of  the  ordinances  of  his  church,  and  yet,  recogniz- 
ing the  sovereignty  and  control  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  admit  the  possibility  of  salvation  aside  from 
the  fulfilment  of  any  of  its  ordinances.  If  one  of 
the  lepers  had  been  deaf,  a  just  physician  might 
have  cured  him,  even  though  he  had  not  turned  to- 
ward the  priests.  And  so  with  any  one,  if,  for  any 
reason,  the  conditions  are  not  clearly  recognized. 
A  man  once  said  to  me,  "No  true  Christian  can  be  a 
true  philosopher,  because  he  can't  weigh  candidly 
truth  from  all  quarters;  because  he  must  be  preju- 
diced against  that  truth  either  of  the  feelings  or  of 
the  intellect,  which  is  found  outside  the  Church." 
This  man  was  mistaken,  because  he  was  judging  the 
Church  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  world.  The 
world's  ideal  Christian  may  be  a  bigot,  but  the  Bib- 
lical ideal  is  not.  The  prophets  of  about  every  peo- 
ple of  antiquity,  except  some  of  those  of  the  Jews, 
held  that  their  gods  were  the  gods  of  their  nations 
alone.  Several  Jewish  prophets  included  the  Gen- 
tiles among  the  recipients  of  blessings  promised  to 

1  Rom.  2  :  14. 


122       SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

)  . 

Israel.     We  are  told  that  Nineveh  repented  at  the 

preaching  of  Jonah ; x  but  we  are  nowhere  told  that 
the  Ninevites  were  ever  asked  to  become  Jews.  It 
was  the  Apostle  Paul  who  went  to  Greece  and  said 
that  he  whom  they  ignorantly — not  refused  to  wor- 
ship, but  worshipped 2- — him  declared  he  unto  them. 
It  was  the  Master  himself  who,  instead  of  rebuking 
the  woman  of  Samaria  for  not  fulfiling  the  forms  of 
the  Jews  by  worshipping  the  Father  at  Jerusalem, 
informed  her  that  the  time  was  coming,  and  had 
come,  when  she  need  not  do  so,  telling  her  that  God 
is  a  Spirit,  and  that  men  may  worship  him  in  spirit 3 
and  yet  in  truth. 

Accordingly,  one  can  draw  an  inference  from  rev- 
elation as  well  as  from  reason,  to  the  effect  that  a 
Christian  can  admit  that  forms  are  of  no  avail  in 
themselves,  and  yet  strenuously  maintain  that  they 
should  be  followed,  because  they  are  conditions  en- 
joined by  the  Master.  In  this  way,  he  can  admit  the 
genuineness  of  spiritual  life  and  truth  outside  the 
Church,  at  the  same  time  that  he  insists  upon  the 
observance  of  forms  inside  the  Church.  It  is  the 
man  who  in  his  relation  to  actual  conditions  can  do 
both  these  that  is  the  true  philosopher.  In  so  far 
as  he  rejects  either  of  them  and  slights  the  principle 
of  human  nature  upon  which  it  is  founded,  and  the 
influence  which  it  has  exerted,  and  always  will  exert 
upon  every  question  of  morals,  science  or  civiliza- 
tion— in  so  far  he,  himself,  is  in  danger  of  manifest- 
ing the  narrowness  and  lack  of  philosophic  breadth 

1Mat.    12  :  41.  aActs   17  :  23.  3  John   4  :  20-24. 


CHUKCII    FORMS  123 

that  he  has  supposed  to  be  a  necessary  characteris- 
tic of  the  Christian. 

But,  again,  our  subject,  as  I  see  it,  may  suggest 
not  only  the  nature  of  the  importance  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  ordinances  of  the  Church,  and  their  relation 
to  character  in  general,  but  also,  in  the  third  place, 
their  relation  to  individual  character.  According  to 
what  has  been  said,  forms  are  of  no  avail  in  them- 
selves. They  are  only  of  avail  as  conditions,  and 
only  of  these  because  they  are  recognized  as  being 
authoritatively  prescribed.  Undoubtedly,  thousands 
of  lepers,  before  and  after  the  time  of  the  Master, 
went  to  the  priests ;  but  we  have  no  warrant  to  sup- 
pose that  any  were  cleansed,  except  those  who  went 
at  this  time,  because  he  had  told  them  to  do  it.  If 
we  ask,  why  did  they  go?  there  is  but  one  answer — 
because  they  had  faith  in  him.  This  brings  us  to  a 
reason  underlying  the  inefficacy,  as  applied  to  indi- 
vidual character,  of  a  mere  external  formal  observ- 
ance of  ordinances — a  reason  with  which,  in  this 
church,  we  are  all  familiar.  "  Whatsoever  is  not  of 
faith,"  says  the  Apostle  Paul  in  Romans  14:23,  "is" 
— not  only  inefficient  but — "sin";  and  again,  Ro- 
mans 1:17,  "the  just  shall  live  by  faith."  On  the 
continent  of  Europe,  and  in  some  churches  not  there, 
all  children,  when  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  are 
confirmed  and  admitted  to  the  communion.  In  some 
parts  of  Germany  no  man  can  be  married  or  per- 
mitted to  have  a  license  to  do  business,  not  even  to 
keep  a  beer-shop,  unless  he  can  show  his  papers  of 
confirmation  or  of  what  corresponds  to  it  in  his  own 


124       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

sect.  This  seems  to  involve  a  clanger  of  perverting 
the  first  object  of  the  communion.  Why  do  those 
children  partake  of  the  elements'?  Because  it  is  a 
fashion,  a  form;  not  because  it  is  an  expression  of 
their  own  faith  in  him  who  established  it.  The  very 
way  in  which  they  are  accustomed  to  be  led  just  at 
a  certain  age,  to  the  Supper,  has  a  tendency  to  cause 
them  to  lose  sight  of  the  reason  for  partaking  of  it ; 
to  make  it  furnish  no  evidence  of  their  possessing 
Christian  faith  as  a  basis  of  character,  as  well  as  to 
furnish  no  incitement  to  make  them  cultivate  this 
faith.  In  our  own  country,  on  the  contrary,  where 
there  is  no  acknowledged  age  for  the  first  com- 
munion, there  is  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the 
young,  instead  of  regarding  the  form  as  of  avail  in 
itself,  to  neglect  it  altogether.  By  consequence,  there 
are  many  here  who  at  heart  are  really  Christians, 
but  whose  Christian  influence  is  lost  to  the  world. 
Indeed,  their  whole  spiritual  experience  is,  some- 
times, even  to  themselves,  shrouded  in  doubt,  solely 
because  they  have  failed  to  fulfil  what  they  may  be 
perfectly  justified  in  terming  a  mere  form. 

The  spirit  of  my  subject  this  morning,  as  well  as 
the  letter  of  the  text,  prevents  me  from  confining  its 
teachings  to  what  has  to  do  merely  with  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  Church.  I  have  already  suggested, 
though  briefly,  its  reference  to  all  external  forms, 
whether  ecclesiastical  or  moral.  Viewed  in  relation 
to  these,  it  seems  to  give  expression  to  a  principle 
applicable  to  every  sphere  of  activity,  religious  or 
secular.     "As  they  went  they  were  cleansed."     In 


CHURCH   FORMS  125 

the  world  it  is  the  running  stream  that  does  not 
stagnate  in  the  fall  or  freeze  in  winter.  In  the  com- 
munity, it  is  the  working  man  whose  limbs  are  not 
made  lax  by  slumbering  in  a  stagnant  marsh,  or 
rigid  as  he  tries  to  reach  a  place  too  high  above  the 
frost  line.  In  the  Church  it  is  the  working  member 
who  does  not  keep  back  the  enterprise  of  his  fellows 
by  the  complaints  of  his  criticism,  or  lessen  their 
enthusiasm  by  the  sanctimoniousness  of  his  formal- 
ism. In  nature,  God  yields  the  rill  a  rock  to  foam 
about,  a  ledge  to  dash  upon,  that  he  may  thus  in- 
crease its  speed  and  volume.  In  the  community,  He 
yields  the  man  financial  woes  to  break  upon,  finan- 
cial foes  to  rise  above,  that  he  may  thus  increase  his 
cautiousness  and  energy;  and  in  the  Church  he 
yields  the  members  wants  and  obstacles  that  he  may 
thus  increase  their  earnestness  and  thoroughness. 
In  ordinary  life,  it  is  the  business  as  well  as  the 
military  man  whose  faith  moves  on  just  when  the 
coward  hesitates,  that  thus  wrests  victory  from  the 
jaws  of  defeat.  In  religious  life,  it  is  the  man  who 
has  not  put  his  hand  to  the  plow 1  and  then  looked 
back  because  of  obstacles,  the  man  who  has  had 
faith  to  go  forward  in  the  path  of  duty,  and  thus 
come  out  of  great  tribulation, — it  is  he  whose  robes 
are  finally  spotless  in  their  purity  and  whose  lips 
can  frame  no  sound  that  is  not  resonant  with  praise. 
Action  and  reaction — it  is  the  law  of  life;  to  go  is 
necessary  before  one  can  get.  ' '  Draw  nigh 2  to  God ' ' 
the   Scriptures   say,   "and   he  will    draw   nigh   to 

1  Luke  9  :  62.  2  James  4  :  8. 


126       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

you."  The  world  about  us  is  a  mirror  wherein  he 
that  looks  perceives  himself  reflected;  all  his  own 
movements  returned  to  him  in  their  own  kind.  In 
society,  as  a  rule,  the  one  who  gives  a  smile  receives 
a  smile.  The  one  who  meets  with  frowns  is  met  with 
frowns.  In  the  Church,  the  one  who  comes  forward 
to  welcome  another  in  the  name  of  a  disciple  is  the 
one  who  finds  others  coming  forward  to  welcome 
him.  The  one  who  does  all  that  he  can  in  order  that 
others  may  receive  a  blessing,  is  the  one  who  him- 
self receives  a  blessing.  Everywhere  the  rays  of 
heaven  fringe  about  the  heavenly  soul;  the  fires  of 
hell  shoot  out  around  the  hellish.  It  is  he  that  loses 
his  life  who  finds  it ;  it  is  he  that  finds  his  life  who 
loses  it.1  In  the  Christian  course  he  that  walks  is 
vivified  with  health,  and  he  that  lies  down  is  stiff- 
ened into  death.  Will  you  not  apply  to  your  own 
condition  this  morning  the  lesson  of  the  text! 

Unless  my  subject  be  utterly  destitute  of  any 
truth,  there  can  be  no  spiritual  life,  or,  if  we  have 
this,  no  spiritual  health  for  any  of  us,  in  this  world 
or  in  the  world  to  come,  unless  we  endeavor  to  live 
true  to  all  the  knowledge  that  we  possess,  and  to 
avail  ourselves  of  all  the  means  of  good  or  of  grace 
at  our  command;  unless,  when  we  hear  the  injunc- 
tion, "Go,"  we  act  in  such  a  way  that  others  can 
say  of  us  that  as  they  went  they  were  cleansed. 

1  Mat.  10  :  39. 


VIII 

HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGIOUS  THEORY  AND  PRAC- 
TISE 

"For  precept  must  be  upon  precept,  precept  upon  precept,  line  upon 
line,  line  upon  line,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little." — Isaiah  28  :  10. 

Other  parts  of  the  whole  passage  from  which  this 
text  is  taken  indicate  that  it  is  meant  to  refer  to  the 
methods  of  instructing  the  young  in  divine  truth. 
"Whom  shall  he  teach  knowledge  and  whom  shall 
he  make  to  understand  doctrine  1 ' '  asks  the  prophet. 
"Them  that  are  weaned  from  the  milk  and  drawn 
from  the  breasts,"  is  the  answer.  "For  precept 
must  be  upon  precept,  precept  upon  precept,  line 
upon  line,  line  upon  line,  here  a  little  and  there  a 
little."  There  is  nothing  original  or  striking  in  this 
statement.  Any  ordinary  school  teacher  could  have 
uttered  and  proved  it  from  his  own  experience. 
Human  thought  in  most  of  us  is  enveloped  in  a 
crust  of  thoughtlessness,  and  precept  upon  precept 
and  line  upon  line  are  the  successive  lurches  of  the 
lever  of  instruction  which  is  to  pry  the  mind  open 
and  let  in  the  light.  Here  is  the  writing  class :  how 
many  times  over  must  this  letter  be  explained  and 
that  line  delineated?  There  is  the  class  in  mathe- 
matics.    A  whole  year  must  be  spent  in  repeating 

127 


128      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

and  reciting,  the  same  to  be  renewed  at  the  end  of 
it.  There  is  the  class  in  languages — whether  in  the 
first  book,  second  book,  or  third  book,  the  same  sim- 
ple rules  are  recurring  all  the  while;  "precept  must 
be  upon  precept,  line  upon  line."  Only  thus  can  the 
principles  of  writing,  arithmetic  or  syntax  be  made 
to  sink  into  the  mind  and  to  abide  there  as  perma- 
nently regulative  methods  of  deed  or  thought.  And 
if  the  teacher  have  not  patience  to  reiterate  and 
perseverance  to  make  the  pupil  reapply  the  precept, 
while  there  may  be  apparent  progress,  what  is  the 
child's  knowledge  of  these  subjects  really  worth? 
To  one  who  has  never  been  drilled  in  the  rudiments 
of  a  subject,  it  can  seldom  prove  pleasurable  to  him- 
self or  profitable  to  others. 

Or,  suppose  that  we  turn  to  more  abtruse  depart- 
ments of  knowledge,  to  natural  science  or  philoso- 
phy; would  it  do  for  one  without  previous  prepara- 
tion to  plunge  into  anything  resembling  learned  or 
profound  discussions  of  these?  Unless  little  by  lit- 
tle, precept  upon  precept,  line  upon  line,  here  a  lit- 
tle and  there  a  little,  his  mind  had  become  accus- 
tomed to  the  definitions  and  laws  which  constitute 
the  first  principles  of  these  branches,  he  would  at 
once  find  himself  beyond  his  depths,  and  over- 
whelmed completely. 

What  we  term  schooling  is  not  the  only  means 
through  which  influence  can  be  exerted  upon  the 
growing  mind.  Character  can  be  effected  no  less 
than  intelligence;  demeanor  no  less  than  thought. 
In  training  the  child  to  integrity  and  morality,  every 


INSTRUCTION    IN    RELIGION  129 

mother  could  confirm  the  statement  of  the  text, — 
precept  must  be  upon  precept,  line  upon  line,  here  a 
little  and  there  a  little.  How  many  times  must  the 
little  hands  be  snatched  by  a  firm  but  gentle  grasp 
from  petty  theft  ?  the  little  lips  cured  of  the  fever  of 
their  petulance  by  the  warm  balm  of  a  kiss?  It  is 
in  the  self-control  that  learns  to  refrain  from  the 
extra  stick  of  candy,  or  the  extra  glass  of  milk,  that 
the  lesson  of  temperance  begins.  It  is  in  the  self- 
denial  that  can  go  to  bed  with  sunset  and  rise  with 
the  dawn,  that  the  foundation  of  efficiency  and  for- 
tune are  laid.  If  there  be  not  here  a  little  and  there 
a  little,  when  one  is  just  starting  upon  the  voyage  of 
life,  what  a  wreck  does  he  experience  as  he  sails 
onward!  Take  him  whom  we  term  a  mother's  pet, 
who  never  yet  has  been  denied  a  wish; — whatever 
may  have  been  his  course  at  home,  how  often,  when 
let  loose  from  it,  does  he  fall  a  victim  to  dissipation ! 
Take  the  methods  of  education  common  to  certain 
countries  of  Europe,  where  there  is  virtually 
no  training  in  self-control — no  developing  and 
strengthening  of  that  which  restrains  and  regulates 
the  nature  from  within  one's  own  mind — countries 
in  which  there  is  only  the  sort  of  training  that  re- 
sults from  outside  pressure — the  boys  barred  up 
and  watched  in  boarding  schools,  and  the  girls  tied 
to  the  apron-strings  of  governesses  and  chaperons — 
when,  in  such  a  country,  the  boarding  school  flings 
wide  its  doors  to  the  young  man,  and  marriage  sets 
free  the  young  woman,  what  waves  of  immorality 
are  apt  to  sink  the  soul  because  it  has  not  become 


130       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

accustomed  little  by  little  to  stem  those  lesser  bil- 
lows of  temptation  that  are  nearer  the  head  waters 
of  the  currents  that  are  sweeping  life  onward! 
"Precept  upon  precept,  line  upon  line,  here  a  little 
and  there  a  little,"— how  important  is  the  principle, 
would  we  influence  intelligence  or  morals,  thought  or 
conduct ! 

The  instructions  and  institutions  of  religion  ought 
not  to  be  out  of  analogy  with  methods  of  influence  in 
other  departments.  For  the  spiritually  young  in 
God's  household  and  kingdom,  to  develop  spiritual 
intelligence  and  grace  in  family  and  church,  ought 
not  that  which  needs  to  be  known  to  be  presented 
according  to  similar  methods — precept  upon  pre- 
cept, line  upon  line,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little? 
Let  us  answer  this  question  as  applied,  first,  to  re- 
ligious opinions.  These  are  usually  expressed  in 
what  are  termed  dogmas.  Dogmas  are  compendi- 
ums  of  scriptural  statements  obtained  through  the 
study  of  these  by  learned  men  of  the  past,  like  Au- 
gustine and  Athenasius,  Luther  and  Calvin.  Every 
sect  has  a  greater  or  smaller  number  of  these  dog- 
mas, derived,  in  the  first  instance,  from  the  Scrip- 
tures and  then  elaborated  and  emphasized  by  its 
founders  and  their  followers.  It  is  not  my  purpose 
this  morning  to  decide  which  are  true,  or  which  are 
not  so;  nor  to  criticize  theological  schools,  because 
so  large  a  part  of  the  study  in  them  concerns  what 
is  termed  dogmatics.  If  it  be  interesting  and  in- 
structive to  study  physics  and  metaphysics  as  they 
are  systemized  in  science  or  philosophy,  the  same 


INSTRUCTION    IN    RELIGION  131 

must  be  true  of  the  study  of  religious  opinions  when 
systemized  in  theology.  The  thought  which  sug- 
gests itself  in  connection  with  our  text  is  whether 
the  student,  after  leaving  the  Seminary,  is  justified 
in  preaching  theology;  how  far  the  completed  re- 
sults of  long  and  thorough  investigation  are  fitted  to 
the  wants  of  people,  most  of  whom  are  just  begin- 
ning to  live  the  Christian  life.  Certainly,  judging 
from  the  history  of  the  Church  as  a  whole,  one 
would  not  suppose  that,  at  this  stage,  such  methods 
of  presenting  truth  would  be  very  effective.  Jesus 
Christ  did  not  preach  dogmas — that  is,  the  results  of 
truth,  systemized,  theologically  or  philosophically. 
His  method  of  teaching  was  by  "precept  upon  pre- 
cept, line  upon  line,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little. ' ' 
Can  we  be  sure  that  it  was  not  for  this  reason  large- 
ly that  the  common  people  heard  Him1  gladly?  It 
was  only  after  the  Church  had  grown  in  spiritual 
strength  that  it  was  prepared  for  the  semi-dogma- 
tism of  the  Apostle  Paul ;  and  one  could  almost  say 
it  was  only  after  it  had  ceased  to  grow  that  it  was 
prepared  for  the  completed  dogmatism  of  Athena- 
sius  and  Augustine.  At  all  events,  theology,  as  a 
method  of  instruction  in  the  Church,  had  its  origin 
not  with  the  great  Master,  but  with  His  followers — 
and  some  of  them  were  followers  who  were  a  long 
distance  away  from  Him. 

Truth  as  presented  in  the  Scriptures  furnishes  by 
no  means  a  continuous  path  for  thought  through 
which  logic,  step  by  step,  can  advance  to  the  appre- 

1  Mark  12  :  37. 


132       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

hension  of  the  eternal.  It  is  more  like  a  wilderness 
with  mountains  and  valleys  on  either  side,  with 
paths  crossing  and  recrossing;  its  truths  scattered 
like  meadow-flowers  along  the  surface  as  irregular- 
ly, to  all  appearance,  as  the  stars  that  enlighten  one 
from  above.  Theology  is  to  the  Bible  what  botany 
is  to  the  open  field.  Shall  we  teach  the  child  of 
flowers  by  showing  them  to  him,  one  by  one,  as  they 
bloom  along  his  pathway,  or  by  first  making  him 
study  some  scientific  treatise  in  which  they  have 
been  analyzed!  Shall  we  impart  truth  to  the  spirit- 
ual child  through  precept  upon  precept,  line  upon 
line,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little,  or  through  deal- 
ing out  to  him  at  once  a  philosophic  system  as  a 
whole  ? 

The  question  may  appear  at  first  thought  of  slight 
importance.  But  let  us  dwell  upon  it  for  a  moment. 
Let  us  examine  it  in  the  light  of  instruction  in  other 
departments.  We  have  found  that  the  student  in 
mathematics  and  the  languages  must  master,  one  by 
one,  through  continued  reiteration  and  practise,  the 
elementary  methods  of  arithmetic  and  algebra,  of 
etymology  and  syntax.  Otherwise,  he  never  will  be 
able  to  advance  to  the  higher  departments  of  these, 
because  he  never  will  be  able  to  apply,  or  even  to 
comprehend  them.  He  may,  indeed,  be  able  to  mem- 
orize geometry  or  Greek,  and  to  recite  in  them  by 
rote ;  but  a  genuine,  independent  knowledge  of  them, 
and  ability  to  use  them,  he  can  never  possess.  A 
man  knows  no  more  than  he  has  mastered,  ''precept 
upon  precept,  line  upon  line."    Applying  this  prin- 


INSTRUCTION    IN    RELIGION  133 

ciple  to  theological  theory,  suppose  that  at  the  be- 
ginning of  a  man's  interest  in  religion,  the  dogmas 
be  presented  to  his  mind  in  systematic  form.  He 
may  learn  them  by  rote  and  repeat  them,  but  does 
he  really  know  them?  Because  his  teachers  tell 
him  that  they  contain  the  truth,  he  may  stand  up 
and  say  that  he  believes  them,  but  does  he  believe 
them?  With  the  power  of  comprehension,  has  he 
actually  digested  them,  and  made  them  integral 
parts  of  his  own  opinion?  And  if  not,  what  then? 
— they  can  not  exert  the  influence  that  they  should 
exert  upon  his  thought,  his  feelings,  or  his  will.  To 
illustrate  this  principle  in  another  way,  suppose, 
through  doing  hard  work,  I  have  succeeded  in  find- 
ing a  path  to  the  summit  of  a  mountain.  A  friend 
at  the  bottom  wishes  to  know  about  the  view  that 
I  have  discovered  there.  There  are  two  ways  in 
which  I  may  gratify  his  wish.  I  may  tell  him  about 
it,  or  I  may  come  down  and  lead  him,  step  by  step, 
up  the  same  path  that  I  myself  have  trod.  It  is  easy 
to  determine  which  of  the  two  courses  will  convey 
to  him  the  more  intelligible  idea.  80  a  teacher  who 
has  attained  to  certain  views  in  the  scientific,  philo- 
sophic, or  religious  world,  may  merely  tell  others 
about  the  finished  results  of  his  labors.  In  this  case 
his  pupils  may  be  able  to  repeat  what  he  says,  but 
they  will  have  had  no  personal  experience  like  his 
own.  Recognizing  this,  the  teacher  niay  adopt  an- 
other course.  He  may  go  down  to  the  place  where 
his  pupils  are  intellectually,  and  from  there  he  may 
lead  them,  step  by  step,  precept  upon  precept,  line 


134      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

upon  line,  until  a  position  is  reached  where  they  can 
see  the  view  for  themselves.  This  illustration  is  to 
the  point,  because,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
a  theological  view  is  something  that  can  be  reached 
by  a  method  of  thought.  It  is  that  which  a  certain 
man  thinks  in  view  of  all  that  he  knows  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Bible,  and  its  relations  to  the  wants  of 
the  human  mind.  What  I  wish  to  have  you  recog- 
nize is  that  the  only  way  in  which  a  man  can  really 
cause  another  to  have  the  same  view  as  himself  is 
through  not  looking  at  it  for  a  time,  leaving  it  be- 
hind, and  coming  down  to  the  place  where  the  other 
is,  and  then,  gradually,  leading  him  upward.  Do  not 
misunderstand  me.  It  is  said  that  the  instructor 
should  not  look  at  his  own  view.  It  is  not  said  that 
he  should  forget  it,  or  misrepresent  it,  or  falsify  it. 
It  is  said  merely  that  he  himself  should  return  back 
through  the  processes  of  thought  by  which  his  own 
mind  has  arrived  at  its  conclusions,  until  he  reach 
that  degree  of  progress  in  thinking  attained  by  his 
pupils.  Then,  letting  the  pupils  know  all  the  time 
that  there  is  something  beyond  that  which  they  them- 
selves have  reached,  he  should,  gradually,  exercising 
all  the  while  sympathy,  charity  and  patience,  lead 
them  up  behind  himself.  It  is  a  mistake,  too,  to  sup- 
pose that  the  higher  the  instructor  himself  has  gone, 
the  more  difficult  it  is  for  him  to  come  down  to  the 
level  of  his  pupils, — i.  e.,  that  the  more  theological 
training  one  has  had,  the  less  religious  influence  can 
he  exert.  It  is  often  the  contrary.  The  more  a 
man  knows,  the  less  does  he  value  things  not  needed 


INSTRUCTION    IN    RELIGION  135 

as  means  of  influencing  others.  It  is  the  most  un- 
sophisticated Freshman  who  is  the  most  apt  to  as- 
tonish the  friends  at  home  by  dwelling  on  the  most 
unimportant  and  useless  experiences  of  his  college 
life.  And  it  is  the  man  to  whom  the  learning  of  the 
philosophic,  scientific  or  theologic  world  appears 
most  novel,  who  finds  the  greatest  difficulty  in  ig- 
noring a  tendency  to  become  pedantic,  or,  as  applied 
to  theology,  dogmatic,  when  in  the  presence  of  those 
to  whom  such  an  attitude  of  mind  can  do  no  good. 

What  has  been  said  about  religious  theory  is 
equally  true  in  the  sphere  of  religious  practise.  If 
one  would  lead  his  fellows  upward,  he  must  come 
down  from  any  position  that  he  may  have  attained 
far  in  advance  of  them,  and  clasp  hands  with  them. 
The  character  of  the  child,  as  was  said  a  moment  ago, 
must  be  trained  by  childish  objects  of  interest,  some 
of  them  appealing  to  only  the  pettiest  passions  and 
appetites.  It  is  by  the  stick  of  candy,  and  the  glass 
of  milk,  that  he  must  be  trained  to  moderation  and 
temperance.  If  parents  neglect  this  truth,  and  con- 
tent themselves  with  tirades  about  gluttony  and 
drunkenness  in  the  forms  in  which  these  appeal  to 
their  own  matured  natures,  the  child  may,  indeed, 
echo  their  words  and  opinions,  but  the  morality  thus 
imparted  will  be  formal,  not  vital.  It  is  only  by  pre- 
cept upon  precept,  line  upon  line,  here  a  little  and 
there  a  little,  that  self-control  can  be  made  to  be- 
come an  experience, — can  be  made  to  be  gradually 
incorporated  as  a  vital,  enduring  element  of  char- 
acter. 


136       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

We  have  all  read  novels — our  modern  literature 
teems  with  them, — in  which  are  depicted  certain  evil 
effects  upon  the  moral  and  religious  life  of  children 
which  were  produced  by  the  Puritanic  methods  of 
our  forefathers.  There  must  be  some  truth  in  such 
representations,  or  they  never  would  have  been 
dwelt  upon  to  such  an  extent  by  writers  who  aim 
to  recommend  themselves  to  the  largest  possible 
constituency.  So  far  as  there  is  truth  in  these  novels, 
what  is  it?  Our  subject  throws  light  upon  this 
question.  Puritanism  was  a  system  that  had  for 
its  object  to  purify  the  methods  or  customs  of  life. 
It  aimed  to  make  the  external  words  and  deeds  of 
people  consistent  with  internal  purity  of  heart  and 
purpose.  A  worthy  aim  most  certainly!  But  what 
were  the  standards  of  Puritanism  in  accordance 
with  which  it  sought  to  regulate  the  external 
methods — the  words  and  deeds — of  the  child?  They 
were  the  standards  of  people  who,  if  not  abnormally 
sedate  by  nature,  had,  at  least,  worked  their  way 
up  to  their  mature  views  and  habits  through 
a  long  course  of  severe  discipline.  AVhen  these  peo- 
ple took  the  external  methods  of  expression  of  their 
own  lives,  which  with  themselves  had  been  the  nat- 
ural outgrowths  of  their  own  experience,  and  at- 
tempted to  make  the  external  methods  of  expression 
of  the  child  pair  with  these,  the  effect  was  neces- 
sarily either  that  the  child  should  see  the  incon- 
sistency between  such  methods  and  his  own  experi- 
ence, and  therefore  rebel  against  the  whole  system, 
and,  doing  so,  against  the  kind  of  religion  occasion- 


INSTRUCTION    IN   RELIGION  137 

ing  the  system;  or  else  that  he  should  not  see  this 
inconsistency,  and,  endeavoring  honestly  to  conform 
to  an  external  method  of  life  which  was  not  a  truth- 
ful expression  of  his  own  internal  moods,  should 
unconsciously  to  himself  cause  these  methods  to 
appear  to  be  formal  and  hypocritical.  So  we  see 
how  Puritanism,  which  originated  in  an  honest  en- 
deavor to  counteract  the  tendency  to  formalism  in 
conduct  and  worship  connected  with  the  established 
church  of  England,  in  its  turn  tended,  in  time,  to 
develop  and  increase  the  same  tendency. 

In  truth,  all  systems  become  formal  that  fail  to 
acknowledge  continually  the  necessity  of  giving  a 
truthful  expression  to  a  man's  internal  thoughts 
and  feelings.  As  a  manifestation  of  advanced 
Christian  experience,  it  may  be  very  wrong  for  you 
and  me  to  waste  our  days  in  playing  cards,  and  our 
nights  in  dancing.  But  the  child  could  not  possibly 
be  true  to  his  nature,  religious  as  he  might  become, 
without  his  games  and  romps  of  some  kind.  You 
and  I  may  like  to  come  to  the  church,  and  praise 
God  in  long  meter  tunes,  and  listen  to  long  sermons. 
I,  by  no  means,  think  that  boys  and  girls  of  a  proper 
age  should  not  gradually  be  accustomed  to  worship 
God  in  the  same  way.  But  the  livelier  tunes,  and 
the  more  reiterative  instructions  of  the  Sunday 
School,  render  it  the  true  church  for  the  children. 
And  as  regards  the  true  church  for  grown  people, 
if  there  be  any  truth  in  the  Hue  of  thought  pre- 
sented this  morning,  it  must  be  evident  that  it  must 
be  a  church  in  which  the  creeds  to  be  accepted  as 


138      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

the  bases  of  confessions  of  faith,  embody  the  most 
simple,  primary  elements  of  belief,  training  the  mind 
to  grasp  those  that  are  more  comprehensive  as  it 
comes  to  them  in  the  natural  course  of  experience; 
it  must  be  a  church  in  which  the  rituals  through 
which  the  Deity  is  addrest  are  expressive  of  the 
most  simple,  primary  elements  of  devotion.  In  such 
a  church  alone  can  old  and  young,  wise  and  ignorant, 
high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,1  meet  together,  and  yet 
feel,  equally,  that  the  Lord  is  the  Father  as  well  as 
Maker  of  them  all.  Any  place  in  which  the  whole 
Bible  can  be  read  and  honestly  interpreted  as  an  au- 
thoritative basis  of  religious  opinion,  any  gathering 
in  which  the  Deity  can  be  addrest  as  the  God  and 
Father  2  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and,  for  this  rea- 
son, be  adored  and  trusted,  is  a  Christian  Church. 
Our  subject  teaches  us,  therefore,  first  of  all,  a 
lesson  of  charity.  If  one  would  exert  the  widest  and 
most  beneficial  influence,  this  attitude  of  mind  is 
necessary  not  only  for  the  public  religious  instruc- 
tor, but  also  for  the  private  religious  liver.  This 
world  contains  plants  and  trees,  flowers  and  fruit, 
plains  and  mountains,  and  one  may  reveal  the  work 
of  the  Creator  as  fully  as  the  other.  So  in  the  re- 
ligious world,  there  are,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  says, 
''diversities3  of  gifts,  but"  all  may  be  manifesta- 
tions "of  the  same  spirit."  If,  in  the  great  school 
of  life,  one  appear  to  be  in  a  lower  class  than  our- 
selves, possibly  he  may  not  be  so, — only  in  another 
department.    But,  even  if  he  be  in  a  lower  class,  this 

1  Prov.    22  :  2.  *  Rom.    15  :  6.  3  1    Cor.    12  :  47. 


INSTRUCTION    IN    RELIGION  139 

is  no  reason  for  turning  him  out  of  the  school  alto- 
gether. It  is  merely  an  argument  in  favor  of  going 
down  to  him  in  that  lower  class,  meeting  him  just 
where  he  is,  and  giving  him  the  sort  of  precept  upon 
precept  and  line  upon  line  that  his  coudition  de- 
mands. 

In  the  second  place,  our  subject  may  teach  us  a 
lesson  with  reference  to  that  kind  of  charity  exer- 
cised toward  individuals  which  we  term  sympathy. 
Some  people  claim  that  women  make  better  teachers, 
especially  for  young  children,  than  men  do.  If  this 
be  so,  it  is  largely  because  they  are  naturally  more 
sympathetic.  Some  people  say  that  clergymen's 
sons  are  apt  to  turn  out  badly.  It  is  not  true  of 
them  as  a  class.  So  far  as  it  is  true,  it  is  true  also 
of  the  sons  of  any  men  who  become  absorbed  in  auy 
pursuits  remote  from  the  ordinary  interests  of  life. 
Such  men  are  almost  necessarily  out  of  sympathy 
with  the  young.  In  all  that  they  do  they  manifest 
this  fact.  "Your  father  will  know  how  to  mend 
that,  all  right,"  said  a  man  to  a  little  boy  whom 
he  found  crying  because  he  had  broken  his  toy 
wagon.  "My  father  don't  know  anything,"  blub- 
bered the  boy.    "He's  a  minister." 

It  is  not  difficult  for  us  to  recognize  why  fathers 
like  this  in  their  own  homes  forget  with  reference 
to  other  things  the  necessity  of  occasionally  visiting 
a  region  where  they  can,  step  by  step,  lead  those  less 
experienced  than  themselves  up  to  their  own  points 
of  view.  The  effect  upon  the  young  is  the  same  as 
I  have  shown  to  result  from  the  Puritanic  spirit. 


140      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

These  either  rebel  against  conformity  to  standards 
entirely  beyond  their  own,  or,  like  parrots  and  apes, 
with  no  genuine  acceptance  of  these  standards,  they 
deem  it  sufficient  merely  to  imitate  certain  outside 
forms  of  sentiment  and  conduct.  All  such  effects 
might  be  obviated  through  the  exercise  by  the  eld- 
erly of  a  little  more  sympathy.  If  the  Lord  Jesus 
could  ignore  the  more  exalted  phases  of  his  mis- 
sion, in  order  to  come  down  and  meet  men  where 
they  were,  and  just  there  go  about  with  them  doing 
good,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  see  that  it  is  our  duty 
to  do  the  same.  We  ought  to  be  patient,  and  even 
satisfied,  to  give  "precept  upon  precept  and  line 
upon  line,"  until  those  whom  we  would  influence  are 
in  a  condition  to  comprehend  something  better. 

This  thought  leads  us,  in  the  third  place,  to  recog- 
nize a  lesson  taught  by  our  subject  with  reference 
to  the  necessity  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  human 
nature.  I  sometimes  have  turned  from  our  hymn 
book  in  positive  despair  and  almost  disgust,  to  find 
how  little  in  it  gives  expression  to  really  noble,  un- 
selfish emotion.  I  was  trying  a  few  weeks  ago  to 
get  a  hymn  expressive  of  the  text,  "By  this  shall  all 
men 1  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love 
one  to  another."  How  few  lines,  to  say  nothing 
of  whole  stanzas,  are  there  to  correspond  with  such 
a  thought!  But  then  again,  I  have  concluded  that 
the  fault  probably  lies  in  myself.  If  I  had  more 
charity  and  sympathy  and  knowledge  of  human  na- 
ture, perhaps  I  should  care  and  think  more  of  the 

Mno.   13  :  35. 


INSTRUCTION    IN    RELIGION  141 

necessity  of  appealing  to  human  nature  as  it  is. 
"Come  unto  me,1  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest,"  said  the  Master. 
A  morbid  man  might  call  this  an  appeal  to  selfish 
motives;  but,  so  far  as  men  are  constitutionally 
selfish,  through  what  other  motives  can  they  be 
reached?  Perhaps  the  most  important  thing  to  bear 
in  mind  is  that,  after  they  have  been  reached  through 
such  motives,  it  is  possible  to  instruct  them  by  "pre- 
cept upon  precept  and  line  upon  line,"  until  they 
are  prepared  to  appreciate  something  that  makes  a 
higher  appeal. 

But  it  is  not  merely  a  knowledge  of  human  nature 
that  is  needed  in  order  to  influence  men.  There  is 
needed  also  a  knowledge  of  human  nature  as  affected 
by  religion.  Our  subject  teaches  a  lesson,  in  the 
fourth  place,  with  reference  to  the  necessity  of  re- 
ligious experience.  This  expression,  let  me  remind 
you,  can  refer  to  very  much  more  than  to  experiences 
confined  to  imagination  or  feeling.  When  the  evils 
and  punishments  of  sin  have  been  presented  to  the 
mind  upon  the  one  hand,  and  the  glories  and  gra- 
tuitousness of  redemption,  upon  the  other  hand,  the 
mind  that  turns  from  the  first  to  the  second, — from 
the  feeling  of  despair  produced  by  the  former  to 
the  feeling  of  encouragement  produced  by  the  latter, 
— is  often  said  to  have  experienced  religion.  It  has 
had  an  experience  of  religious  thought  and  feeling, 
most  certainly;  and  if  one's  will  have  really  been  in- 
fluenced to  such  extent  as  to  reform  conduct,  he  will, 

1  Mat.  11  :  28. 


142       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

from  this  moment,  have  an  experience  of  religion, 
because,  so  far  as  feeling  and  thought  are  concerned, 
Ihey  will  tend  to  make  him  lead  a  religious  life.  But 
we  must  remember  that  the  life  itself  is  a  very  im- 
portant part  of  the  religious  experience.  It  will  not 
do  to  accept  without  modification,  as  if  it  were  an 
expression  of  the  whole  process  involved,  the  senti- 
ment embodied  in  that  hymn  with  which  many  of  us 
are  familiar: 

Lay  your  deadly  doing  down, 
Down  at  Jesus '  feet : 
Doing  is  a  deadly  thing; 
Doing  ends  in  death. 

Of  course,  there  is  a  certain  sense  in  which  this 
is  true.  Any  man  who  supposes  that  any  amount 
of  work  or  worship  on  his  part  is  going  to  earn  his 
salvation  from  an  Almighty  God  is  about  as  sensible 
as  a  mosquito  that  thinks  that  his  serenade  of 
buzzing  is  going  to  save  him  from  the  slap  of  a  man 
who  wants  to  sleep.  Whether  it  shall  be  saved  or 
not  depends  upon  the  disposition  of  the  man ;  wheth- 
er a  soul  shall  be  saved  or  not  depends  upon  the 
character  of  God;  and  Christianity  teaches  that  we 
have  every  reason  to  have  faith  in  this  on  account 
of  the  words  and  work  of  the  Christ.  This  is  the 
side  of  the  truth  emphasized  in  this  stanza.  It 
means  that  doing,  as  a  method  and  the  only  method 
of  obtaining  salvation,  ought  to  be  subordinated  to 
faith  in  the  divine  character. 

But  there  is  another  side  of  this  truth — doing  as 
a  necessary  prerequisite  for  religious  experience — 
even  for  the  thought  and  feeling  of  this  experience — 


INSTRUCTION    IN   RELIGION  143 

of  that,  there  is  the  deepest  and  most  constant  need ! 
"Follow  me,"  1  said  Jesus  to  the  fishermen  of  Gali- 
lee; and,  scarcely  knowing  why,  they  left  their  nets 
and  followed  him.  But  we  are  told  that  they  went 
all  the  way  to  Cana  of  Galilee  2  before,  in  the  deepest 
sense,  they  believed  in  Him.  ' '  Then  shall  we  know, 
if  we  follow  on  to  know,"  says  Hosea  (6:3).  "If 
any  man  will  do  His  will  he  shall  know  of  the  doc- 
trine," said  the  Master  (John  7:17).  The  truth 
seems  to  be  that  unless  a  man  have  started  out  hon- 
estly and  earnestly  to  do  the  will  of  God,  and  unless, 
by  consequence,  he  have  failed  in  that  endeavor,  as 
most  men  must,  he  may  never  find  out  from  his  own 
personal  experience  all  that  is  meant  by  relying 
upon  the  mercy  of  God.  In  other  words,  he  can  not 
experience  all  that  there  is  in  religion,  except  in  the 
degree  in  which  he  starts  out  to  do.  The  same  thing 
is  equally  true  as  applied  to  the  effect  which  his  re- 
ligious experience  can  have  upon  others.  No  one  is 
fitted  to  teach  who  himself  has  not  mastered  the 
rudiments  of  the  branch  concerning  which  he  seeks 
to  give  instruction.  No  one  is  fitted  to  guide  in  opin- 
ion, conduct  or  anything  else,  who  himself  has  not 
advanced,  step  by  step,  along  the  course  over  which 
he  attempts  to  lead.  We  may  be  certain  that  the  spir- 
itually inexperienced  can  not  lead  the  spiritually  in- 
experienced. Only  one  who  has  himself  walked  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  Master  can  have  the  charity  and 
sympathy  and  kind  of  knowledge  of  the  wants  of 
human  nature,  and  of  the  perils  and  encouragements 

'Mat.  4  :  19.  2Jno.  2:11. 


144      SUGGESTIONS   FOE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

of  the  way,  that  will  enable  him  to  be  a  trustworthy 
guide.  He  aloue  knows  what  precepts  are  worth 
remembering;  what  lines  are  worth  retaining;  what 
little  is  worth  repeating;  because  he  himself  has 
advanced  along  the  same  course,  according  to  the 
same  method,  "precept  upon  precept,  precept  upon 
precept,  line  upon  line,  line  upon  line,  here  a  little 
and  there  a  little." 


IX 

HOW  TO   IMPART   CHRISTIAN  PRINCIPLES 

"And  the  servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive;  out  oe  gentle  unto 
all  men,  apt  to  teach,  patient,  in  meekness  instructing  those  that 
oppose  themselves,  if  God,  peradventure,  will  give  them  repentance  to 
the  acknowledging  of  the  truth." — 2  Tim.  2  :  24,  25. 

How  shall  the  world  become  converted?  How 
shall  a  servant  of  the  Lord,  whether  a  clergyman 
or  a  layman,  in  the  pulpit  or  in  the  parlor,  impart 
to  others  a  knowledge  of  spiritual  truth  in  such  a 
manner  that  his  lessons  shall  be  apprehended  not 
alone  by  the  minds,  but  incorporated  into  the  lives, 
of  his  hearers?  This  is  the  question  which  the  Apos- 
tle moots,  and  is  endeavoring  to  answer  in  the  in- 
structions given  as  quoted  in  our  text.  He  is  view- 
ing the  method  of  Christian  influence  as  regarded 
in  the  light  of  its  effects  upon  the  world.  "But 
foolish  and  unlearned  questions,"  he  says,  "avoid, 
knowing  that  they  do  gender  strifes.  And  the  ser- 
vant of  the  Lord  must  not  strive,  but  be  gentle  unto 
all  men,  apt  to  teach,  patient,  in  meekness  instruct- 
ing those  that  oppose  themselves,  if  God,  peradven- 
ture, will  give  them  repentance  to  the  acknowledg- 
ing of  the  truth." 

The  portions  of  the  text  which  have  suggested 
the  thoughts  with  which  T  shall  endeavor  to  enforce 

145 


14G       SUGGESTIONS   FOE  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

the  reasonableness  of  this  injunction,  are  its  first 
and  its  final  clauses.  The  first  clause  is  this,  "and 
the  servant  of  the  Lord."  This  expression  indi- 
cates the  fact  that  the  work  of  Christianizing  the 
world,  of  influencing  men  through  spiritual  truth, 
is  not  man's  but  the  Lord's;  and  that  man,  in  all  the 
efforts  which  he  puts  forth  in  order  to  produce  the 
result  is  only  a  servant,  an  agent.  The  final  clause 
is  this,  "if  God  peradventure  will  give  them  repent- 
ance"; and  it  indicates — what  any  thoughtful  mind 
might  have  inferred  from  the  former  expression — 
that  there  is  some  part  of  this  work  which  man,  the 
servant,  the  agent,  can  not  perform.  He  must  act 
in  the  manner  enjoined  by  God,  in  order  that  "God 
peradventure"  may  give  to  the  one  who  is  to  be 
influenced  "repentance  to  the  acknowledging  of  the 
truth." 

These  two  expressions  naturally  suggest  a  two- 
fold duty  on  the  part  of  the  Christian  teacher, 
positively,  to  do  all  possible  to  further  that  portion 
of  the  Lord's  work  committed  to  himself;  and,  neg- 
atively, to  do  nothing,  so  far  as  possible,  to  retard 
it.  These  two  considerations  should  regulate  his 
bearing.  He  should  not  strive,  first,  on  account  of 
what  he  has  to  do;  and,  second,  on  account  of  what 
he  has  not  to  do. 

First,  then,  what  has  he  to  do?  To  advance  the 
cause  of  Christianity,  of  course.  How  is  this  to  be 
done?  In  two  ways,  as  I  conceive, — by  an  appeal  to 
the  heads  and  to  the  hearts  of  others.  He  has  to 
convince  their  minds  of  the  truth  of  Christian  doc- 


IMPARTING  CHRISTIAN  PRINCIPLES       147 

trine;  and  to  communicate  to  their  souls  the  spirit 
of  Christian  life. 

How  shall  he  convince  their  minds  of  the  truth 
of  Christian  doctrine?  How  can  one  convince  of 
any  truth  %  How  is  anything  proved, — I  mean  merely 
intellectually? — By  what  is  termed  a  process  of  logic, 
— not  so  ?  What  is  the  first  condition  of  a  successful, 
or,  as  it  is  termed,  a  syllogistic  process  of  logic? 
The  first  condition  is  that  it  should  start  with  some 
simple  statement  recognized  as  truth  by  both  him 
who  argues  and  by  the  one  with  whom  he  argues. 
For  instance,  a  man  says  to  another,  who,  for  some 
reason,  appears  not  to  be  interested  in  Christianity, 
"Christianity  has  an  influence  in  the  world." 
"Yes,"  replies  the  other;  "that  is  true."  The 
first  continues:  "Everything  that  has  an  influence 
in  the  world  is  entitled  to  consideration."  "That, 
too,  is  true,"  replies  the  other.  "Christianity,"  the 
former  resumes,  "has  an  influence  in  the  world,  and, 
therefore,  it  is  entitled  to  consideration";  and,  if 
the  other  acknowledge  the  truth  of  this  latter  state- 
ment, he  will  acknowledge  it,  as  you  perceive,  be- 
cause it  has  been  preceded  by  statements  with  which 
he  could  agree;  in  other  words,  proof  of  truth  con- 
cerning which  men  differ  is  based  upon  statements 
of  truth  concerning  which  they  agree.  To  find 
points  of  agreement,  therefore,  is  to  find  sure  bases 
for  argument.  Those  who  are  foremost  in  finding 
these  points  of  agreement  are  foremost  in  being 
influential.  Those  who  find  points  of  agreement 
with  the  largest  number  of  different  minds  are  in- 


148       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

fluential  with  the  largest  number.  This  is  one  rea- 
son why  intellectual  power  is  so  often  associated 
with  liberal-mindedness.  The  fact  that  one  per- 
ceives many  truths  in  the  beliefs  of  many  people, 
enables  him  to  make  statements  with  which  many 
can  agree.  And  through  the  agency  of  these  state- 
ments, he  can  lead  them  on  to  acknowledge  many 
other  and  different  statements  with  which  he  desires 
to  have  them  agree.  Accordingly,  we  perceive  that 
there  is  a  rhetorical — a  logical — as  well  as  a  reli- 
gious reason  why  a  man  should  not  strive.  If  we 
begin  where  we  agree  with  one,  we  may  possibly 
lead  his  mind  on  to  an  opinion  of  our  own  entirely 
different  from  his.  If  we  begin  by  opposing  him, 
very  likely  we  shall  lead  his  mind  on  to  nothing. 
I  am  aware  that  there  is  a  sort  of  success  attendant 
upon  intellectual  narrowness,  upon  bigotry.  But 
it  is  a  success  confined  in  effect  to  the  sphere  of 
thought  of  those  holding  the  opinions  concern- 
ing which  one  is  bigoted,  not  an  absolute  success 
when  considered  with  reference  to  the  much  broader 
sphere  of  thought  lying  outside  of  this.  Bigotry 
may  make  a  man  an  ideal  of  a  sect,  to  be  crowned 
as  its  idol.  It  can  never  make  him  an  aggressive 
warrior  who  conquers  in  a  new  territory  of  thought 
that  his  sect  has  not  yet  entered.  The  strong  par- 
tizan  and  the  intense  sectarian  may  seem  to  wear 
the  purple,  and  to  hold  the  scepter  in  politics  and 
in  religion.  They  exert  only  an  apparent  effect. 
The  aggressive  influence  is  the  work  of  their  col- 
leagues who  have  broader  views,  who  stand  not  in 


IMPARTING  CHRISTIAN  PRINCIPLES       149 

the  center  but  on  the  circumference  of  the  sphere 
of  the  opinion  of  their  party  or  of  their  church, 
where  they  can  clasp  hands  with  their  neighbors 
over  the  border  and,  by  keeping  in  touch  with  them, 
draw  them,  if  necessary,  into  their  own  circle.  You 
will  find  that  the  moderate  partizans  and  the  broad 
churchmen — the  General  Grants  and  the  Dr.  Tyngs 
— you  will  find  that  these  are  the  men  who  really 
lead  into  an  acceptance  of  their  own  opinions  the 
greatest  number  of  those  inclined  to  differ  from 
these.  The  wild  beast  may  roar.  It  is  the  gentle 
horse  and  the  faithful  dog  that  make  men  treat  the 
animals  like  friends.  The  goose  may  hiss.  It  is 
the  unobtrusive  dove  that  draws  the  children  to  the 
barnyard,  and  makes  them  generous  with  their 
grain.  Therefore,  merely  considered  as  a  matter 
of  intellectual  influence,  if  the  servant  of  the  Lord 
would  exert  this,  under  the  most  favorable  condi- 
tions, he  must  not  strive. 

That  he  must  not  do  so  will  appear  still  more  evi- 
dent when  we  consider  not  only  the  requirements 
of  proof  in  general,  but,  in  the  second  place,  those 
of  proof  in  particular, — those  connected  with  the 
particular  kind  of  proof  which  it  is  the  function  of 
the  servant  of  the  Lord  to  present.  Eeligion  is  in- 
tended to  satisfy  wants  that  exist  in  every  soul, 
wants,  by  consequence,  which  every  .individual  rec- 
ognizes as  soon  as  they  are  made  clear  to  him.  The 
Christ  came  to  the  world,  not  so  much  to  originate 
new  truth,  as  to  remove  the  fraud  and  falsehood  that 
had  covered  up  old  truth.    He  came  that,  when  these 


150      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

were  removed,  all  men,  like  the  Prodigal,  might 
come  to  themselves,  to  their  better  selves,  as  we 
say.  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  all  the  fundamental 
truths  of  religion  conform  to  requirements  that  God 
has  infused  into  the  natures  of  all  of  us;  require- 
ments prophetic  of  that  which  we  should  become; 
requirements  that  incline  us  to  duty,  and  can 
find  their  complete  fulfilment  in  only  the  standards 
of  life  presented  in  what  we  term  religion.  To  deny 
this  is  simply  to  deny  that  religion  was  made  for 
man.  To  admit  it  is  to  admit  that,  in  connection 
with  imparting  to  him  a  knowledge  of  religion,  there 
is  no  necessity  for  strife.  Why  strive  about  truth, 
concerning  which  all  men  are  really  fitted  to  agree! 
Would  you  become  angry  with  a  child  because  he 
could  not  understand  some  explanation  that  he 
wanted  to  hear ;  or  if  you  did  become  angry,  would 
this  increase  your  ability  to  be  of  assistance  to  him? 
Not  by  any  means.  You  need  not  only  to  know 
more  than  the  child,  but  to  be  apt  to  teach,  patient, 
persistent,  dealing  out,  line  upon  line,1  precept  upon 
precept,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little.  ''How  can 
you  have  patience,"  said  the  father  of  John  Wes- 
ley to  his  mother,  "to  tell  that  blockhead  the  same 
thing  twenty  times  over!"  "Because,"  said  she, 
"if  I  had  told  it  but  nineteen  times,  I  should  have 
lost  all  my  labor."  Think  how  many  thousands  in 
the  world  since  then  have  been  put  under  obligation 
to  that  mother  for  the  spirit  and  the  success  of  the 
spirit  which  she  thus  manifested! 

1  Isa.  28:  10. 


IMPARTING  CHRISTIAN  PRINCIPLES       151 

But  again,  the  servant  of  the  Lord  who  would 
advance  his  Master's  cause,  must  not  only  influence 
men's  minds  to  receive  Christian  truth,  but  also  com- 
municate to  their  souls  the  spirit  of  Christian  life. 
This,  the  personal  influence  of  Christianity — the 
character  of  the  Christ  communicated  to  his  imme- 
diate disciples,  and  from  them  to  their  followers — 
is  its  most  distinguishing  feature, — that  which  chief- 
ly separates  the  Christian  system  of  religion  from 
all  others;  and  this  personal  influence,  according  to 
every  theory  of  Christianity,  is  exerted  through  the 
manifestation  of  one  thing, — i.  e.,  the  spirit  of  love. 
The  absurdity  of  endeavoring  to  communicate  a 
spirit  of  love  through  a  manifestation  of  a  spirit  of 
strife  is  evident.  Like  produces  like ;  the  exhibition 
of  a  feeling  in  one  excites  a  similar  feeling  in  an- 
other. Strife  awakens  strife  in  return.  Only  love 
can  awaken  love. 

So  much,  concerning  the  reasonableness  of  our 
text  considered  in  the  light  of  what  the  servant  of 
the  Lord  has  to  do.  Let  us  now  consider  it  in  the 
light  of  what  he  has  not  to  do.  We  are  told 
that  Paul  may  plant  and  x  Apollos  water ;  but  God 
alone  can  give  the  increase.  The  servant  of  the 
Lord  must  conduct  himself  toward  his  fellowman 
in  a  way  that  recognizes  the  possibility  of  failure, 
if  God  peradventure, — i.  e.,  if  the  spirit  of  God, 
working,  as  it  always  does,  upon  the  spirit  within 
the  man — do  not  give  "repentance  to  the  acknowl- 
edging of  the  truth."    Does  strife  as  a  method  in- 

1 1  Cor.  3  :  6. 


152      SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

dicate  a  recognition  of  the  necessity  of  the  work  of 
the  spirit  of  God?  Wherever  there  is  strife,  there 
is  a  conflict  between  the  will  of  one  man  and  that 
of  another.  Whenever  such  a  conflict  takes  place 
upon  the  subject  of  religion,  there  is  an  endeavor 
of  one  will  to  change  and  control  from  the  outside, 
without  reference  to  a  change  in  spirit,  the  religious 
life  of  another?  Yet,  according  to  the  Christian 
theory,  such  a  purpose  is  impossible  of  accomplish- 
ment. Christianity  involves  faith  in  spiritual  forces 
that  first  control  one's  inner  spirit,  and,  afterward, 
through  this  control  his  outer  life.  How  can  any  one 
influence  men  to  trust  in  these,  while  conveying  the 
impression  that  what  he  wishes  to  enforce  is  his  own 
thought,  feeling  and  will.  This  impression,  though 
very  slightly  conveyed,  may  sometimes  make  all  the 
difference  between  producing  the  effect  of  philan- 
thropy and  of  tyranny.  The  desire  to  control  oth- 
ers, when  developed,  has  produced  almost  all  the 
merely  external  misery  of  the  world.  Who  fails  to 
admire  the  young  Napoleon,  the  champion  of  the 
opprest  people  of  France,  when  he  was  enlisted  in 
their  cause,  and  doing  their  will?  Who  admires  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  enthroned  by  the  demon  of  self- 
will?  Accordingly,  we  see  how,  from  the  nature  of 
the  work  of  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  whether  com- 
municating the  truth  or  the  spirit  of  Christianity, 
strife  should  be  avoided. 

This  teaching  of  reason  may  be  confirmed  by  that 
of  experience.  There  was  a  time  in  history  when 
every  member  of  every  family  was  kept  in  order  be- 


IMPARTING  CHRISTIAN  PRINCIPLES       153 

cause  he  trembled  before  the  temper  of  the  one  with 
the  strongest  physique  in  that  family.     There  was 
a  time  when  every  subject  of  every  state  was  cowed 
into  submission  by  swords  and  spears  at  right  and 
left  of  every  path  through  which  a  cowardly  minion 
dared  to  venture.     There  was  a  time  when  every 
cringing  devotee  of  every  religious  cult  was  forced 
to  kneel  by  a  hierarchy  that  watched  and  worked 
the  visible  vices  of  both  family  and  state  in  order 
to  secure  their  slavish  acquiescence.    We  know  now 
the  results  of  such  conditions, — brutality,  immoral- 
ity,  ignorance,   superstition,   intolerance,   degrada- 
tion.    They  made  the  home  a  brothel,  the  state  a 
slave  pen,  the  church  a  Golgotha.     These  were  the 
results  wrought  by  the  power  of  the  prince  of  this 
world,   as   the   Scriptures   term  him.     Then   there 
arose   another  power.     It  was   the   power  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace.     It  did  not  strive.     Nor,  at  the 
first,  was  it  successful.    One  of  its  missions  was  that 
it  should  exhibit  patience;  that  this  should  have  its 
perfect  work ;  that  its  adherents  should  learn  chiefly 
this, — to  ''wait1  on  the  Lord."    And  they  did  wait. 
Its  leader  was  "despised2  and  rejected  of  men,  a 
man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief.    He  was 
opprest,  and  he  was  afflicted,  yet  he  opened  not  his 
mouth.    He  is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter, 
and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he 
openeth  not  his  mouth."    .And  yet,  friends,  that  un- 
complaining man  is  the  one  whose  wisdom  has  guid- 
ed the  thoughts  and  whose  character  has  molded  the 

1  Ps.  37  :  34.  2  Isa.  53  :  3,  7. 


154       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

lives  of  those  who  have  been  the  most  successful  in 
furthering  real  progress  in  the  world  during  the 
last  eighteen  centuries.  And  what  was  the  secret  of 
his  power?  What  but  this, — that  "when  he  was1 
reviled,  he  reviled  not  again;  when  he  suffered, 
he  threatened  not;  but  committed  himself  to  Him 
that  judge th  righteously"?  And  the  love  that 
he  exhibited,  triumphant  as  it  was  over  all  the 
powers  of  strife,  causing  him  to  die  rather  than  to 
resist  wrongfully, — this  was  that  which  has  been 
able  to  draw  all  men  unto  him.  Now,  do  we  believe 
in  such  a  love  as  his?     Do  our  actions  evince  it? 

Let  us  learn  from  our  subject,  that  gentleness 
is  indispensable  in  a  Christian.  There  is  no  real, 
permanent  success  that  is  achieved  by  the  manifes- 
tations of  any  other  spirit.  All  the  angry  disputes, 
as  well  as  the  forcible  resistance,  of  the  theologians 
of  different  parties  in  the  church  are  only  like  so 
many  winds  and  waves  upon  a  sea  that  interrupt 
and  endanger  the  progress  of  that  which,  but  for 
them,  would  be  furthered  upon  its  course.  There 
are  emergencies  in  which  it  may  be  necessary  for 
love  itself  to  assume  the  form  of  justice.  But  even 
then,  rigor  can  be  so  manifested  that  men  shall  per- 
ceive that  love  after  all  has  incited  it.  If  this  im- 
pression can  not  be  made,  better  to  be  dumb  "as  a 
sheep  2  before  her  shearers";  yes,  better  to  be  dead 
like  the  Christ  upon  the  cross.  "The  blood  of  the 
martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church,"  because  the  man- 
ifestation  of   gentleness   is    that   which   leads    the 

1  1  Pet.  2:  23.  2  Isa.  53:  7. 


IMPARTING  CHRISTIAN  PRINCIPLES       155 

world  toward  the  universal  reign  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace. 

And  let  us  learn  again,  that  humility  must  mark 
the  bearing  of  the  Christian.  It  may  be  hard  for 
us  to  conceive  how  the  spirit  of  God  can  further  the 
purposes  and  plans  of  the  Christ  without  our  assist- 
ance. Yet  if  the  world  could  do  without  Jesus  so  that 
he  could  lay  down  his  life  at  thirty-two,  it  certainly 
can  do  without  us.  If  his  earthly  life  could  end  in 
such  a  way  that  to  all  observers  it  seemed  to  be  a 
failure,  certainly  ours  can. 

And  let  us  learn,  once  more,  the  necessity  of  ex- 
hibiting, in  all  the  exercises  of  our  Christian  life, 
faith  in  God  and  in  his  Spirit.  Work  as  we  may, 
the  full  reward  of  work  will  never  come  in  this 
world.  The  philosophy  of  life  consists  in  recogniz- 
ing this  fact.  If  we  would  have  buoyant  spirits, 
spirits  able  to  survive  disappointments,  and  to  main- 
tain energy  and  enthusiasm  down  to  old  age,  we 
must  learn  to  anticipate  these  disappointments; 
nay,  more,  to  consider  them  often  signs  of  spiritual 
success.  Was  it  not  so  in  the  case  of  the  Master? 
Do  you  remember  the  story  of  Moses  when  down  in 
the  rock  *  with  the  great  hand  of  God  pressing  upon 
it?  What  could  he  do?  He  feared  that  he  should 
see  God  and  die.  Yet  that  was  his  preparation  for 
the  assurance2  that  the  "Lord  God",  is  "merciful 
and  gracious,  long  suffering  and  abundant  in  good- 
ness." What  could  he  not  do,  encouraged  by  such 
words?    Our  own  experience  may  be  similar.    When 

*Ex.   33  :  20  23.  2  Ex.   34  :  6,   7. 


156      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

the  hand  of  God  seems  to  be  pressing  heavily  upon 
us,  this  may  be  because  he  is  near.  Remember  his 
touch  is  always  the  true  ordination  that  sends  men 
forth  to  be  real  messengers  of  his  grace ;  that  truly 
communicates  to  them  the  spirit  of  his  love,  and  en- 
ables them,  clothed  on  with  gentleness,  reverent  by 
humility,  and  energetic  through  faith,  to  go  into 
all  the  world  and  so  conduct  themselves  that,  wheth- 
er in  a  pulpit  or  out  of  a  pulpit,  they  shall  success- 
fully ' '  preach  the  gospel x  to  every  creature. ' ' 

1  Mark  16  :  15. 


THE  LAW  OF  NATUEAL  DEVELOPMENT   AS   AP- 
PLIED TO  EELIGION  IN  GENERAL,  TO  THE 
CHUECH  AND  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN. 

' '  But  grow  in  grace,     and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Savior, 
Jesus  Christ."— 2  Peter  3  :  18. 

Everything  in  the  world  with  which  we  come  in 
contact  is  undergoing  a  process  of  development  out 
of  one  state  and  into  another.  If  we  think  of  a 
man,  or  of  a  nation,  or  of  any  object  in  nature, 
there  will  be  suggested  the  fact  that  none  of  them 
present  the  same  features  today  that  they  present- 
ed a  few  years  or  centuries  ago,  or  that  they  will 
present  a  few  years  or  centuries  hereafter.  Ac- 
cordingly, if  the  writer,  when  giving  the  injunction 
of  the  text,  had  stopped  at  the  word  grow,  his  ex- 
hortation would  have  been  superfluous.  All  things 
grow,  of  necessity,  whether  they  will  to  do  so  or  not. 
The  significance  of  the  exhortation  is  derived  from 
the  words  following  grow,  ''in  grace  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ." 

If  we  walk  through  a  forest,  we  notice  trees  that 
seem  to  have  developed  naturally  into  a  healthful 
and  graceful  maturity.  We  notice  others  upon 
which  neighboring  growth,  crowding  at  every  side, 

157 


158       SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

has  had  such  an  effect  that  they  have  developed  into 
only  a  spare  and  sickly  age.  Some  of  the  trees  ap- 
pear to  be  all  trunk  with  no  branches,  only  a  small 
cluster  of  leaves  at  the  top.  Others  seem  to  have 
received  injury  in  their  youth;  something  seems  to 
have  pressed  against  them.  They  have  developed 
in  a  crippled,  ungainly  manner.  Through  their  con- 
torted limbs  one  can  scarcely  recognize  any  rela- 
tionship to  their  straight  and  comely  neighbors. 
It  is  like  this  in  human  life.  A  normal  development 
for  a  man  would  be  a  growth  in  grace,  using  this 
latter  word  in  its  most  comprehensive  and  beautiful 
sense.  But  a  man  is  not  left  to  normal  development 
in  the  world.  There  are  fellowmen  crowding  about 
him  on  every  side,  forcing  his  life  to  be  narrow  in 
experience  and  contracted  in  influence, — to  become 
like  the  spare  or  sickly  tree,  neither  beautiful  nor 
useful.  Sometimes,  too,  the  weight  of  their  example 
and  the  weakness  of  his  own  nature,  prone  to  yield 
to  temptation,  seem  to  cripple  and  distort  and  well 
nigh  crush  out  all  possibility — not  to  say  capacity — 
for  improvement.  It  becomes  a  very  hard  thing  to 
grow  in  grace  when  one  is  all  his  life  subject  to  these 
ungracious  influences. 

If  we  would  fulfil  the  injunction  of  the  text,  we 
must,  first  of  all,  understand  just  what  it  is  to  grow. 
The  dictionary  tells  us  that  it  means  to  increase,  to 
expand;  but  the  word  is  applied,  primarily,  to  the 
development  of  vegetation ;  and  we  shall  get  a  clear- 
er idea,  perhaps,  of  its  exact  meaning  through  no- 
ticing just  what  the  process  is  in  that  department 


GROWTH   IN   GRACE  159 

of  nature.  Take  a  tree,  for  example.  The  first 
thing  in  it  that  appears  above  the  ground  is  a  green 
sprout.  It  is  very  weak.  We  can  break  it  with  our 
little  finger.  But,  after  it  has  grown,  it  becomes 
very  strong.  It  might  take  us  long  hours  to  hew  it 
down  with  an  axe.  Growth,  therefore,  implies,  in 
the  first  place,  increase  in  strength.  Again,  the 
sprout,  upon  its  first  appearance,  is  small ;  the  min- 
utest insect  would  hardly  be  obliged  to  turn  out  of 
its  path  to  get  around  it.  But,  after  a  few  years, 
it  has  pushed  up  and  expanded  so  that  the  beasts 
of  the  field  find  ample  shelter  under  its  branches. 
Growth,  therefore,  implies,  in  the  second  place,  in- 
crease in  extension  over  space,  in  scope.  Once 
more,  the  sprout  is  a  single  object.  One  can  exam- 
ine it  and  ascertain  all  its  constituent  elements,  in 
a  few  moments.  But  the  tree  is  very  complex,  con- 
taining root,  trunk,  limb,  bark,  leaf  and  sap,  and, 
possibly,  bud,  flower  and  fruit,  with  skin,  core  and 
seed.  One  may  be  obliged  to  traverse  through  al- 
most the  whole  region  covered  by  the  science  of  bot- 
any before  he  can  finish  a  study  of  its  diverse  parts. 
And  it  is  complex  not  only  in  material,  but  also  in 
appearance.  It  may  have  red  roots,  brown  limbs, 
green  leaves,  white  flowers,  yellow  fruit.  We  may 
say,  therefore,  that  the  term  growth,  as  applied  to 
a  tree,  indicates  increase  in  strength,  scope  and 
complexity. 

These  characteristics  of  growth  need  not  be  ap- 
plied to  a  tree  alone.  If  we  think  a  moment,  we 
shall  recognize  that  they  apply  to  the  growth  of  all 


1G0       SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

things  that  exist, — a  fact  which  merely  proves,  so 
far  as  it  proves  anything,  that  there  is  one  source 
of  creative  energy,  and  one  wisest  method  of  bring- 
ing to  perfection  all  its  living  products.  Take  the 
world  considered  as  a  whole.  There  was  a  time, 
after  it  began  to  assume  shape,  when  it  held  little 
except  layers  of  cloud  and  steam  and  molten  metal, 
all  similar  in  appearance,1  limited  in  range,  and  sug- 
gesting scarcely  any  variety  or  possibility  of 
change.  But  the  surface  grew,  increasing  constant- 
ly in  strength,  scope  and  complexity.  Waters  from 
the  firmament  were  showered  upon  it;  soil  ap- 
peared ;  and,  at  the  same  time  with  its  appearance, 
the  clouds  grew  thin,  and  light  dawned.  Then  the 
earth  brought  forth  grass  and  herb  and  tree  yield- 
ing fruit.  Then  came  the  full  blaze  of  sunshine  and 
the  fishes  of  the  sea,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and, 
last  and  noblest  of  all,  the  man,  made,  as  we  are 
told,  in  the  image  of  his  Maker. 

Very  similar  in  its  main  features  has  been  the 
development  of  that  for  which,  as  the  churches  be- 
lieve, man  was  created, — namely,  religious  life. 
First  of  all,  when  he  was  tempted  and  had  fallen, 
there  came  the  statement  that  the  seed  of  the  woman 
should  bruise  the  serpent's  head.2  This  was  no 
more  than  a  weak,  limited,  simple  prophecy,  a  germ 
thrown,  as  it  were,  to  the  winds.  From  it,  neverthe- 
less, was  to  spring,  by  and  by,  the  whole  religious 
system.  Then  came  the  waters  of  the  flood,  over- 
whelming the  barrenness  that  had  been,  and  prepar- 

xGen.  1:1-9.  sGen.  3  :  15. 


GROWTH   IN   GRACE  161 

ing  the  soil,  which  appeared  at  the  calling  of  Abra- 
ham. After  the  soil,  came  the  light,  tho  still  behind 
clouds,  shining  dimly  through  the  symbols  of  the 
tabernacle.  Then,  with  the  advent  of  the  Christ, 
the  seed  of  the  truth  sprang  up,  and  the  full  blaze 
of  heaven's  sunshine  poured  down  upon  it  with  the 
influence  of  his  spirit. 

Nor  need  we   drop   the   comparison  here.     The 
growth  of  the  Christian  Church  has  apparently  con- 
tinued since  then  to  exemplify  similar  principles. 
First,  the  united  church  for  three  or  four  centuries, 
stretching  up  toward  a  higher  life  without  a  sug- 
gestion of  anything  like  division,  seems  to  resemble 
the  trunk.    Then,  with  the  development  of  the  Nes- 
torian,  Armenian,  Greek  and  Roman  churches,  came 
the  great  branches;  and  with  the  reformation  and 
the  dissensions  that  followed  came  other  branches, 
many  of  them  smaller,  but  all  unfolding  new  re- 
sources  of  power,   extension  and  complexity,   and 
preparing  the  way  when  perhaps  all  shall  blend  to- 
gether,   perfected    in    grace    and    laden    with    the 
ripened  fruit  of  the  ages.    "How  can  you  belong  to 
a  church,"  said  a  Eoman  cardinal  to  one  of  the 
prominent  German  reformers,  "that  is  constantly 
changing!"    And  the  answer  given  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  thought  that  I  have  just  presented. 
How  could  one  belong  to  a   church   that  did  not 
change?     Change  is  a  sign  of  life,  of  growth,  of 
progress.    The  one  simple  sprout  where  it  has  ma- 
tured exhibits  stiff  limbs  and  bending  limbs,  plain 
green  leaves,  and  richly  variegated  flowers.     Who 


162      SUGGESTIONS  FOB  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

shall  dare  to  say  that  spiritual  life,  when  it  has  de- 
veloped, cannot  find  a  place  both  for  the  angular 
walls  of  a  Quaker  meeting  and  for  the  curving 
arches  of  the  cathedral;  both  for  the  plain  pulpit 
of  the  Puritan,  and  for  the  gorgeous  chancel  of  the 
cavalier? 

But  let  us  turn  from  growth  as  evinced  in  the 
natural  world  and  in  revealed  religion  to  that  trace- 
able in  individual  life.  It  has  come  to  be  a  recog- 
nized principle  of  philosophy  that  nothing  is  expe- 
rienced by  the  race  as  a  whole  that  is  not  in  analogy 
with  what  is  experienced  by  each  individual  as  a 
separate  unit.  In  accordance  with  this  principle, 
let  us  compare,  with  successive  phases  of  material 
and  spiritual  development  already  considered,  those 
manifested  in  individual  life  as  influenced  by  the 
methods  of  the  church.  In  the  first  place,  when  the 
child  is  in  the  ignorance  of  infancy,  he  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  any  character  at  all ;  but,  at  the  best, 
only  the  possibility  of  it  in  the  future.  Like  the  con- 
dition described  as  that  of  Adam  in  the  garden,  his 
best  mood  is  rather  an  indefinite  promise  of  good 
than  a  possession  of  it.  He  has  not  yet  eaten  of  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,1  either  of  good  or  of 
evil.  "While  still  in  this  condition,  in  most  of  our 
churches,  tho  in  others  somewhat  later  in  life, 
he  receives  the  water  of  baptism,  which  is  a  sym- 
bol2 of  cleansing  from  sin,  but  only  a  symbol,  for 
sin  remains  in  him.  So  the  world  was  washed  by 
a  flood,  as  one  of  the  apostles  says,  as  a  symbol  of 

lGen.   2  :  9,   17.  *1  Pet.   3  :  20,   21. 


GROWTH   IN   GRACE  163 

its  cleansing  from  sin,  but  only  a  symbol,  for,  after 
it,  sin  remained  in  the  world.  Again,  the  child  is 
trained  in  the  family  according  to  the  law  of 
the  parent.  That  law  is  usually  arbitrary.  The 
subject  of  it  usually  does  not,  and  can  not  under- 
stand the  principles,  the  spirit,  underlying  the  com- 
mands that  he  receives.  "I  must  not  do  that,"  he 
says,  " because  I  have  been  told  not  to  do  it."  Law 
and  the  parent's  will  are  supreme.  But,  after  the 
child  has  become  a  man,  he  no  longer  gives  as  a 
reason  for  refraining  from  an  act  that  be  has  been 
told  not  to  do  it.  He  has  risen  to  a  higher  level. 
He  says,  "It  is  inconsistent  with  my  character, 
as  an  honorable  man,  as  a  good,  exemplary  neigh- 
bor." Just  so  the  world  before  the  Advent  was 
reared  according  to  families.  Not  only  in  Israel, 
but  everywhere,  the  law  was,  as  the  Apostle  says,  a 
school  master 1  to  bring  men  unto  Christ.  They 
were  under  tutors  2  and  governors.  But  after  they 
had  been  thus  prepared,  after  intelligence  could 
grasp  the  central  fact  of  revelation,  came  the  lib- 
erty 3  of  the  sons  of  God,  and  the  world  could  wor- 
ship him  in  spirit 4  and  in  truth.  Once  more,  after 
the  child  has  arrived  at  an  age  of  discretion,  and 
has  come  to  appreciate  the  fullness  of  the  glory  of 
God  as  manifested  in  the  revelation  in  the  Gospel, 
then,  after  that,  is  the  time  when  we  look  for  the 
influence  of  the  Spirit  upon  him  with  all  the  intens- 
ity of  its  powers  to  take  its  residence  within  him 
and   to   begin   the    sanctification   of  his   character. 

1  Gal.   3  :  24.  =  Gal.   4:2.  3  Gal.    5  :  13.  "  Jno.    4  :  24. 


164       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

This  fact  again  reminds  one  that  the  Holy  Spirit1 
is  said  to  have  descended  upon  the  world  immedi- 
ately after  the  departure  of  the  Christ,  and  the  ces- 
sation of  his  personal  work  on  earth,  had  led  his 
followers  to  recognize,  in  all  its  fulness,  the  real 
significance  of  his  mission.     Look,  too,  at  the  next 
experience  of  a  man  at  this  stage  of  development 
— I  mean  of  a  Christian  man,  for  I  am  drawing  my 
comparisons  now  from  a  complete,  not  from  a  crip- 
pled specimen  of  humanity — what  is  his  next  expe- 
rience?   Very  likely,  just  what  was  the  experience 
of  the  Christian  world  during  its  first  six  hundred 
years, — a  contest,  and  a  stern  contest,  with  the  in- 
tellectual phases  of  religion, — trying  to  determine 
exact  definitions  for  what  are  termed  the  dogmas. 
And    what    is    the    experience    of    the    Christian 
after    this?      If    intellectual    considerations    have 
too  completely  absorbed  his  attention,  very  likely 
a    state   of  partial   spiritual   deadness,   resembling 
again    the    condition    of    the    world    during    the 
middle   ages,   to    end,    as    did   that,   with    a  refor- 
mation of  outward  life,   and   a  devotion  to   prac- 
tical duties,  gradually  thrusting  too  great  regard 
for     intellectual     considerations    into     the     back- 
ground,   and    substituting,    in    their    place,  a  gen- 
uine love   for   all,   despite   differences   of   opinion, 
and    thus     preparing    the     way     for     those     one 
leaves  behind  in  this  world,  as  well  for  his   own 
soul   in   the   world   to   come,   to   enjoy   that    state 
where    the    prayer    of    the    dying    Jesus    shall    be 

1  Acts.   2  :  1-4. 


GROWTH   IN    GRACE  165 

answered,  and  all  shall  be  one  in  reality  as  well  as 
in  anticipation. 

I  have  endeavored  to  sketch  what  seems  to  be  a 
natural  development  of  growth  in  the  world,  in  the 
church,  and  in  individual  Christian  life;  and  have 
endeavored  also  to  show  the  analogies  between 
them.  Before  proceeding,  it  may  be  well  to  direct 
attention  to  the  fact  that  because  the  order  of  ex- 
perience that  has  been  indicated  seems  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  a  natural  process  of  growth,  no  one  need 
congratulate  himself  that  he  is  just  where  he  ought 
to  be  in  case  he  happen  to  be  passing  at  present 
through  a  state  analogous  to  that  of  the  dogmatists 
of  the  early  centuries,  or  of  the  proselyters  of  the 
middle  ages.  For,  in  the  first  place,  the  individual 
is  responsible  for  such  a  state  in  a  sense  that  can 
not  be  affirmed  of  a  whole  world  or  of  a  corporate 
church  with  which,  in  this  case,  he  is  compared. 
In  the  second  place,  who  can  tell  how  long  the  life 
of  the  individual  shall  be?  It  behooves  him  to  pass 
through  all  stages  of  development  if  he  would  pre- 
sent above  the  records  of  a  completed  experience. 
In  the  third  place,  the  text  says  grow  in  grace.  If 
one  be  in  the  condition  described,  it  is  his  duty  to 
grow  out  of  it  as  soon  as  possible. 

We  have  found  that  growth  implies  increase  in 
strength,  scope  and  complexity.  Let  us  apply  these 
ideas  now,  not  to  the  superficial  and  external  phases 
of  individual  life,  but  to  the  subtle  phases  of  inter- 
nal experience,  as  they  reveal  themselves  to  con- 
sciousness.    The   beginnings   of  this   spiritual  life 


166      SUGGESTIONS  FOB  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

within,  as  we  know,  are  exceedingly  limited  in  all 
particulars.     They  may,  perhaps,  be  comprehended 
in  no  more  than  a  vague  sense,  when  conscious  of 
needing  forgiveness,  of  the  possibility  of  our  receiv- 
ing it.    In  every  heart  there  is  a  craving  after  a  real- 
ization of  the  idea  that  God  is  love.     There  is  a 
consciousness  of  demerit,  if  not  of  positive  sin, — a 
consciousness    of   something   that    separates, — that 
breaks  up — the  harmony  that  ought  to  exist  between 
a  man  and  his  Maker.    This  feeling  is  exceedingly 
strong,  sometimes,  even  in  the  minds  of  the  worst 
classes.    The  power  of  those  termed  revival  preach- 
ers consists  in  their  being  able  to  recall  strongly 
and  vividly  to  people  the  presence  within  them  of 
this  feeling;  and  then,  along  with  it,  to  present  a 
conception   capable   of  banishing  it,— a   conception 
of  God  as  a  God  of  love,— that  he  is  ' '  long-suff er- 
ing  1  to  usward,  not  willing  that  any  should  perish, 
but  that  all  should  come  to  repentance,"  a  conception 
that,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  may  be  most  com- 
pletely revealed  to  consciousness  by  the  thought  of 
that  man  who  had  previously  proved  the  divinity 
of  his  mission  by  the  wonders  that  he  had  wrought, 
by  the  truths  that  he  had  uttered,  and  by  his  benevo- 
lent and  blameless  life— by  the  thought,  I  say,  of 
this  man  dying  upon  the  cross  to  manifest  the  love 
of  God.     If  God2  so  loved  the  world  that  he  sent 
this  son  of  his  to  suffer  and  die  for  it ;  if  God,  and 
the  son,  so  loved  the  world  that,  in  order  to  awaken 
in  men  that  faith  and  love  which  alone  can  purify 

12   pet  3  .,,_  2Jno.  8  :1«. 


GROWTH   IN    GRACE  167 

and  make  fit  for  eternal  life, — if  they  were  willing 
to  do  this  in  order  that  the  son,  when  lifted  up,1 
should  draw  all  men  unto  him,  certainly  in  the  de- 
gree in  which  men  come  to  believe  this  fact,  they 
who  are  enemies  can  feel  that  they  can  be  recon- 
ciled 2  to  this  God  of  love  and  plead  the  death  upon 
Calvary  as  a  ground  of  assurance  that  God  will  not 
impute3  their  trespasses  nnto  them. 

This  feeling  appears  to  be  the  beginning  of  a 
Christian  experience.  But  it  is  not  the  whole  of  a 
Christian  life.  After  this,  there  must  be  growth. 
The  first  vague  conception  that  is  hardly  more  than 
a  surmisal  of  the  love  above  must  develop  into 
the  strength  of  an  assurance.  It  must  increase  in 
scope,  too.  From  feeling  it  must  press  up  into  in- 
tellect. Beginning,  so  far  as  opinions  are  concerned, 
with  the  narrowest  rudiments  of  something  learned 
by  rote  from  a  catechism,  it  must  push  forward 
through  theology,  science,  philosophy,  and,  until  it 
reach  the  Infinite  Himself,  there  can  be  no  limit  to 
its  increase.  It  must  press  outward  also,  to  devote 
its  energies  upon  the  life  about  it, — past  the  friend, 
past  the  family,  past  the  church,  yes,  altogether 
past  the  church  as  a  mere  formal  organization,  past 
the  nation,  past  the  world,  past  the  throngs  of  spir- 
itual witnesses  above  the  world,  until  its  love  can 
reach  and  sympathize  with  him  who  is  the  all  and 
in  all.  It  must  increase  in  complexity  also.  What 
seemed  once  only  a  transient  experience,  must  be- 
come "pastime,  study,  rest  and  food."     What  was 

1  Jno.  12  :  32.  a  2  Cor.  5  :  18.  s  2  Cor.  5  :  19. 


168       SUGGESTIONS   FOE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

only  a  feeling,  must  become  thought  and  deed. 
What  was  formerly  but  a  single  fruit  of  the  spirit, 
must  increase  till,  added  to  it,  come  "love,  joy, 
peace,1  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith, 
meekness,  temperance,"  until,  in  fact,  "we  grow2 
up  unto  Him  in  all  things,  which  is  the  head,  even 
Christ." 

We  perceive,  at  once,  that  it  is  very  difficult  to 
follow  this  law  of  increase  implied  in  the  possession 
of  Christian  life.  A  man  may  have  a  few  Christian 
principles,  a  germ  of  life,  and,  for  this  reason,  may 
find  himself,  by  and  by,  rightly  situated  in  the 
midst  of  spiritual  surroundings ;  but  such  a  charac- 
ter may  occupy  the  same  position  there  that  an 
acorn  does  in  a  landscape.  Of  full  grown  plants, 
of  trees — of  strong,  broad,  comely,  graceful  trees — 
how  few  are  produced  in  this  spiritual  world!  Look 
at  the  pride,  the  prejudice,  the  envy,  the  gossip,  the 
bigotry,  the  covetousness  and  the  deception  that 
prevail  in  all  of  our  nominally  Christian  communi- 
ties. 

Yet,  altho  growth  is  difficult,  it  is  essential. 
Things  spiritual,  like  things  natural,  wither  and  die 
if  they  do  not  continue  to  grow.  The  Christian 's  life 
must  pass  beyond  its  first  impulse  in  the  feelings. 
The  truth  is  that  mere  feelings  ebb  as  well  as  flow. 
This  is  their  nature.  If  you  would  promote  perma- 
nence in  that  which  causes  the  feeling,  you  must 
give  the  man  something  capable  of  increasing  in 
scope  and  engaging  the  interest  of  his  entire  man- 

lGal.   5  :  22.  2Eph.    4  :  15, 


GROWTH   IN   GRACE  169 

hood — of  intellect  and  hand — at  times  when  the  emo- 
tional part  of  his  nature  has  become,  so  to  speak, 
exhausted.  There  is  no  natural  reason,  either,  why 
it  should  not  become  exhausted.  A  patriotic  sol- 
dier does  not  become  less  a  patriot  because,  in  some 
lull  of  the  battle,  he  has  ceased  to  feel  the  impulse, 
or  to  utter  the  incoherent  cries,  of  the  charge.  Nor 
does  a  Christian  soldier,  for  any  analogous  reason, 
cease  to  be  a  Christian.  The  life  of  nature  is  not 
dead  because  the  sleet  sparkles  where  the  flower 
bloomed,  and  the  ice  has  checked  the  rippling  of 
the  stream.  Our  spiritual  life  is  not  dead  because 
we  no  longer  perceive  the  glow,  or  feel  the  thrill, 
that  once  evinced  its  presence.  We  ought  not  to 
think  it  dead.  To  think  this  is  unfortunate,  both 
for  ourselves  and  for  others.  Why  should  we  think 
it?  We  shall  not  do  so  in  the  degree  in  which  we 
recognize  that  the  essence  of  the  Christian  life  is 
a  growth  in  positive,  practical  goodness  or  Christ- 
likeness,  steadily  increasing  in  strength,  scope  and 
complexity;  altho,  like  all  life,  subject,  amid  the 
shifting  seasons,  to  storm  as  well  as  to  sunshine,  to 
snow  for  a  covering  as  well  as  to  the  verdure  that 
more  particularly  marks  its  presence. 

This  growth,  as  I  have  said,  altho  difficult,  is  es- 
sential to  Christian  life.  Our  text  tells  us  that  we 
must  grow.  The  responsibility  of  this  development 
then  rests  with  ourselves.  How  can  we  make  it 
possible  for  our  own  weak  wills  to  accomplish  this 
difficult,  yet  essential,  duty?  The  text  with  the  in- 
junction informs  us  of  the  method  of  fulfilling  it: 


170       SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

"Grow  in  grace,"  it  says,  "and  in  the  knowledge 
of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ."  Our  Chris- 
tian life,  if  we  have  any,  sprang  into  existence, 
either  directly  or  indirectly  in  response  to  the  light 
sent  us  from  that  source  which  "lighteth1  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  world."  Our  Christian 
growth  will  be  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  illu- 
mination received  from  the  same  source.  This  is 
the  sun  which  alike  woos  the  confidence  of  the  tiny 
sprout  of  religion  when  first  it  dares  to  venture 
from  the  shelter  of  its  seed,  and  brings  a  flush  upon 
the  ripening  fruit  that  crowds  upon  the  topmost 
limb  as  tho  to  catch  and  to  reflect  the  earliest  signal 
of  the  coming  dawn.  The  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
and  Savior  Jesus  Christ!  Centuries  have  passed 
since  he  was  on  the  earth.  Philosophy  has  been  at 
work  in  every  generation  that  has  followed;  science 
has  investigated  facts  without  number;  morality  has 
experimented  through  every  range  of  practise; 
priest-craft  has  sought  out  all  possible  forms  to 
cultivate  piety;  but  neither  philosophy  nor  science 
nor  morality  nor  priest-craft  has  ever  formed  one 
principle  controlling  developments  in  nature,  secur- 
ing order  in  society,  or  promoting  purity  in  reli- 
gion at  real  variance  with  the  principles  and  prac- 
tises of  Jesus  Christ.  On  the  contrary,  as  the  world 
advances,  the  philosopher  finds  fresh  truth  suggest- 
ed by  his  utterances,  the  scientist  new  hypotheses; 
each  nation  a  higher  standard  for  liberty;  each 
church  a  holier  impulse  for  conduct. 

1  Jno.  1  :  9. 


GROWTH   IN   GRACE  171 

Would  you  grow  ?  Go  at  every  stage  to  his  words 
and  to  the  ideal  of  life  that  he  has  left  for  the 
world.  See  how  much  you  yet  have  to  learn,  to 
feel,  to  do,  before  you  become  like  him.  And, 
friends,  the  more  you  study  his  character,  the 
more,  I  am  convinced,  you  will  become  assured  that 
it  is  something  very  different  from  any  one  of  those 
empty  effigies  of  piety,  either  ritualistic  or  evan- 
gelical, which  this  world,  molding  after  its  own 
vain  ideal,  has  decked  out  and  bowed  down  to  as 
its  idol.  That  gentle,  genial,  considerate,  charitable, 
self-denying,  self-sacrificing  man,  Jesus,  is  to  be  our 
model, — nothing  less,  nothing  more.  But  be  not 
discouraged.  Remember  his  wonderful,  to  us  well 
nigh  unintelligible,  prayer  for  his  people :  that 
"the}T  all  may  be  one;  as  thou  Father1  art  in  me 
and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us; 
that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me; 
and  the  glory  which  thou  gavest  me,  I  have  given 
them;  that  they  may  be" — grow  to  be — "one,  even 
as  we  are  one." 

'Jno.   17  :  21,   22. 


XI 

PROGRESS    AND    CONSERVATISM    AS    ELEMENTS 
OF   CHRISTIAN   EXPERIENCE 

"Therefore  leaving  the  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  let  %is  go 
on  unto  perfection ;  not  laying  again  the  foundation." — Hebrews  6  :  1. 

The  whole  history  of  education  in  any  phase  of 
it,  so  far  as  it  proves  to  be  a  success,  is  a  history  of 
the  course  of  the  mind  in  leaving  principles.  If 
you  will  watch  the  progress  of  a  child  in  any  branch 
of  learning,  you  will  perceive  the  truth  of  this  state- 
ment. Take  the  most  common  branch  for  example, 
— that  of  learning  to  read  one's  own  language. 
First,  are  acquired  the  simple  principles  by  which 
certain  sounds  are  associated  with  certain  letters. 
After  this,  other  sounds  are  associated  with  certain 
combinations  of  letters ;  then  other  sounds  still,  with 
certain  combinations  of  syllables.  At  first,  it  is  a 
long  and  laborious  process  to  spell  out  a  syllable,  a 
word,  or  a  sentence.  But,  after  a  time,  these  prin- 
ciples are  left  behind.  The  man  is  not  conscious  of 
spelling  out,  or  even  of  pronouncing,  anything  that 
he  reads.  He  takes  in  a  whole  line  of  a  book  at  a 
glance,  and  peruses  page  after  page  without  utter- 
ing one  audible  sound.  Leaving  the  principles  of 
reading,  he  has  gone  on  to  perfection. 

172 


PROGRESS  AND  CONSERVATISM  173 

The  same  process  is  still  more  manifest  when  we 
advance  from  a  simple  to  an  intricate  department 
of  education.  Consider  the  method  of  becoming  an 
artist  in  music, — in  playing,  for  instance,  upon  a 
piano.  At  first,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  associate 
a  certain  position  of  a  note  upon  a  printed  musical 
staff  with  a  certain  key  upon  the  instrument.  The 
mind  goes  through  an  extended  process  of  thought, 
in  order  to  attain  this  result.  "A"  is  found  upon 
the  paper;  then  the  key  of  "A"  is  found  upon  the 
instrument,  and,  after  that,  is  sounded.  At  first, 
too,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  strike  the  keys  in 
succession  with  the  proper  succession  of  the  fingers, 
so  as  to  render  the  execution  natural  and  easy. 
But,  after  the  performer  has  gone  on  to  perfection, 
and  has  become  an  artist,  it  is  marvelous  to  watch 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  keys  of  the  instrument 
are  associated  with  the  written  notes,  and  the  facil- 
ity with  which  the  fingers  execute  them.  Nay,  stop 
the  performer,  and  ask  him  about  the  principles, 
and  it  may  take  him  a  long  time  to  recall  the  names 
of  the  notes,  or  just  what  fingering  he  has  employed 
while  transferring  them  to  sound.  Leaving  the 
principles,  he  has  gone  on  to  perfection. 

A  similar  law  prevails,  as  already  intimated,  in 
every  department  of  mental  culture.  The  school- 
boy probably  knows  far  more  about  the  technicali- 
ties of  the  principles  of  the  grammar  of  his  own  or 
of  foreign  languages  than  does  the  most  accom- 
plished writer  and  linguist  who  has  not  had  his 
thoughts    kept    especially    upon    these    principles 


174       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

through  pursuing  the  avocation  of  a  teacher.  In 
fact,  as  men  advance  in  years,  all  the  details  of 
earlier  education  become  more  or  less  indistinct. 
They  have  forgotten  just  how  to  repeat  the  rules 
which  they  once  knew  so  well  in  grammar,  mathe- 
matics and  logic.  Very  likely,  if  they  try  to  recall 
them,  they  state  principles  differing  in  some  regards 
from  those  found  in  their  old  text  books,  adding  or 
taking  from  them  truths  which  their  own  experience 
has  taught  them  to  consider  of  greater  or  of  lesser 
importance.  Leaving  the  principles,  therefore,  it  is 
the  tendency  of  the  mind,  in  its  advance  both  in 
individual  branches  and  in  general  culture,  to  go  on 
from  them  to  perfection. 

This  is  one  side  of  the  truth.  There  is  also  an- 
other side.  Our  text  adds  to  its  opening  phrase  that 
we  have  noticed  the  expression,  "not  laying  again 
the  foundation.'1  This  must  mean  that  if  we  be 
sure  that  the  foundation  already  laid  has  been  made 
deep,  broad  and  safe,  the  wise  course  is  to  continue 
to  erect  the  structure  for  which  the  foundation  has 
been  prepared — not  to  waste  time  in  puttering  over 
its  elaboration,  or  ornamentation,  or  in  preparing 
another,  to  say  nothing  of  building  somewhere  else 
without  waiting  to  lay  any  suitable  foundation  what- 
ever. The  Apostle  intimates  that  the  wise  mind,  in 
leaving  the  principles  to  go  on,  does  not  leave  aside 
the  principles  to  go  away  from  them.  It  does  not 
turn  from  one  course  into  another.  It  continues  in 
the  same  course.  It  does  not  forget  or  forsake  the 
principles.    It  advances  from  the  theoretic  recogni- 


PROGRESS  AND  CONSERVATISM  175 

tion  to  the  practical  use  of  them,  in  order  to  develop 
the  perfection  of  which  they  are  only  the  beginnings. 
Of  what  good  is  knowledge  of  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet,  or  of  the  notes  of  music,  or  of  the  rules  of 
grammar,  mathematics,  or  logic,  if  they  are  not, 
some  day,  to  develop  the  reader,  the  musician,  the 
scholar?  But  if  the  principles  have  been  forgotten, 
can  they  ever  do  this?  The  reader  must  continue 
to  know  his  letters,  the  musician  his  notes,  and  the 
scholar  his  rudiments.  If  one  have  left  aside  the 
principles,  forgotten,  forsaken,  or  if  he  make  mis- 
takes with  reference  to  them,  he  has,  by  no  means, 
been  going  on  to  perfection.  He  has  been  going 
away  to  imperfection. 

Accordingly,  we  see  that,  altho  in  a  natural  de- 
velopment of  mind,  there  is  a  process  of  leaving 
principles,  there  is  not  a  process  of  leaving  them 
aside.  The  man  is  no  longer  conscious  of  spelling 
out  his  words,  of  thinking  that  "a"  "b"  spells 
ab,  and  therefore  the  syllable  before  him  is  "ab." 
The  musician  is  no  longer  conscious  of  thinking  that 
a  certain  note  on  the  paper  is  "a"  and  that  a  certain 
key  on  the  instrument  is  "a,"  and  that,  therefore, 
the  one  should  be  struck  here,  inasmuch  as  the  other 
is  written  there.  The  matured  intellect  is  uncon- 
scious of  any  process  of  thought  connected  with 
these  first  principles,  yet  they  are  latent  in  the  mind. 
If  one  have  never  learned  them  thoroughly,  or  have 
forgotten  them,  he  never  can  become  perfect  in 
reading  or  in  performing  music.  Leaving  the  prin- 
ciples in  order  to  go  on  to  perfection,  he  must  be 


17G       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

careful  not  to  leave  aside  the  principles  in  order 
to  go  away  from  it. 

Our  text  applies  this  law  of  advance  which,  as 
might  be  shown,  exists  in  every  department  of  men- 
tal development,  to  spiritual  development.  Leaving 
principles,  we  must  be  careful  not  to  leave  them 
aside,  or  to  forsake  them.  The  principles  of  which 
the  text  speaks  are  said  to  be  the  principles  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christ.  It  is  intimated  here,  as  every- 
where else  in  the  New  Testament,  that  a  true  con- 
ception of  the  Christ  and  of  his  mission  is  the  pri- 
mary condition  of  individual  Christian  life.  Then 
the  text  goes  on  to  add,  "Not  laying  again  the  foun- 
dation.^ What  is  meant  by  this  word  foundation, 
or,  rather,  what  is  indicated  in  the  reference  to  it,  is 
indicated  in  the  clauses  following  the  text.  "Not 
laying  again  the  foundation,"  it  says,  "of  repen- 
tance from  dead  works,"  as  if  the  Apostle  were 
contrasting  with  these  the  living  works  to  which 
the  Christ,  as  the  representative  of  God,  has  called 
one.  Then,  as  if  detailing  other  doctrines  consid- 
ered to  be  fundamental,  the  passage  mentions,  "the 
doctrine  of  faith  towards  God," — that  is  of  confi- 
dence, in  view  of  the  revelation  of  the  Christ,  that 
God  will  receive  the  penitent  soul ;  then  is  mentioned 
the  doctrine  "of  baptisms,"  as  the  ordinance  through 
which  the  soul  becomes  connected  with  the  visible 
church;  then,  the  doctrine  "of  the  laying  on  of 
hands,"  through  which  this  visible  church  is  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation  of  rulers;  then 
the   doctrine   "of   the   resurrection   of   the   dead," 


PROGRESS  AND  CONSERVATISM  177 

when  all  shall  receive  a  new  life;  then,  lastly,  the 
doctrine  "of  eternal  judgment,"  when  the  good 
shall  be  separated  from  the  bad.  These  are  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity.  Leaving  these  principles, 
but  not  forsaking  them,  we  are  exhorted  to  go  on 
unto  perfection. 

It  is  the  great  object  of  spiritual  culture,  just  as 
it  is  the  great  object  of  intellectual  culture,  to  de- 
velop a  perfect  manhood.  The  Christian  who  does 
not  advance  beyond  principles  is  as  badly  off  as  the 
man  who  does  not  advance  beyond  the  alphabet,  the 
exercises  of  the  first  book  in  music,  or  the  multi- 
plication table.  Principles  are  to  be  learned,  and 
to  be  learned  thoroughly ;  but  they  are  to  be  learned 
in  order  to  be  used.  As  we  are  all  frequently  made 
aware,  there  are  many  people  who  in  their  Christian 
experience  never  seem  to  get  beyond  the  very  first 
stages.  They  have  been  a  long  time,  perhaps,  con- 
fessing Christians.  But,  like  children  that  do  not 
develop,  they  have  no  manly  traits.  They  are  like 
overgrown  babes  in  the  Kingdom.  When  any  dis- 
couragement checks  an  undertaking,  they  either  sit 
still  frightened  into  doing  nothing,  or  congratulate 
themselves  upon  having  done  an  immense  deal,  be- 
cause they  have  had  sense  enough  to  cry,  or  to  run 
away.  As  for  personal  traits,  they  can  talk  glibly, 
perhaps,  about  trust  in  God,  but  their  manners  are 
self-righteous ;  about  humility,  but  their  actions  are 
egotistical ;  about  charity,  but  they  are  bigots ;  about 
a  natural  spiritual  experience,  but  their  expression 
of  it  betrays  something  altogether  artificial  and  for- 


178       SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

mal.  This  latter  fact  makes  them  the  source  of 
accusations  of  cant  and  hypocrisy  so  frequently  at- 
tributed to  church  members.  Very  likely,  however, 
they  are  not  consciously  guilty  of  either.  Many  of 
them  have  merely  not  left  the  principles.  They 
have  grown  old  without  going  on  to  perfection. 
Like  children  spelling  out  their  words  in  the  first 
reader,  or  bungling  over  their  exercises  on  the  piano, 
everything  that  they  do  in  the  direction  of  religious 
activity  is  stiff  and  unnatural.  If  they  had  been 
developing  themselves,  there  would  be  in  them  many 
more  indications  of  the  presence  of  love  to  exert  an 
attractive  influence  upon  the  life  of  the  world  about 
them. 

I  have  spoken  of  one  class  to  be  found  in  every 
community.  There  is  also  another,  and  a  larger 
class,  of  those  who  have  left  the  principles,  and 
whose  progress  in  spiritual  experience  is  beyond 
question.  In  their  younger  years,  or  when  they 
first  made  confession  of  their  faith,  they  were,  per- 
haps, rash  and  imprudent  defenders  of  their  own 
peculiar  theories.  These  alone  seemed  to  engage 
their  entire  attention.  Very  likely,  in  order  to  en- 
force upon  others  their  belief  in  these,  their  treat- 
ment of  those  opposed  to  them,  even  of  their  own 
children,  was  severe  and  dogmatical.  They  ap- 
peared, at  that  time,  to  evince  acceptance  of  the 
doctrines,  but  possession  of  few  of  the  graces  of 
Christianity.  Yet  as  years  have  passed,  one  after 
another  of  these  faults  have  disappeared.  Those 
who  manifested  them  have  become  patient  and  pru- 


PROGRESS  AND  CONSERVATISM  179 

dent,  willing  to  acknowledge  the  worth  of  a  loving, 
spiritual  life,  no  matter  with  what  peculiar  view  or 
in  what  sect  it  may  be  found.  They  have  grown 
long  suffering  and  forbearing  with  those  opposed 
to  them;  and  so  indulgent  to  their  grandchildren 
as  almost  to  alarm  the  caution  of  a  parent  who  is 
less  mature.  Their  entire  bearing  indicates  far 
greater  emphasis  expended  on  the  graces  than  on 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  Instead  of  being  par- 
tizans  of  a  portion  of  the  Christian  world,  they  have 
become  patrons  of  institutions  intended  to  benefit 
the  whole  of  it.  Leaving  the  principles,  they  have 
gone  on  to  perfection.  Nevertheless,  if  you  question 
them,  you  find  that  they  have,  by  no  means,  left 
aside  the  principles.  They  answer  your  inquiries, 
very  likely,  just  as  different  scholars  in  an  intel- 
lectual branch  answer  questions  concerning  the  rudi- 
ments of  that  branch.  The  responses  seldom  come 
exactly  in  the  phraseology  that  was  learned  by  rote 
in  youth,  but  modified  according  to  the  discoveries 
of  individual  experience  in  maturity.  One  may  lean 
to  progressive  views,  another  to  those  that  are  con- 
servative; and  yet,  wherever  there  is  true  spiritual 
life,  you  generally  find  that  the  man  possessing  it, 
if  able  to  interpret  his  own  motives,  has  by  no  means 
left  aside  the  principles  which  Paul  enumerates  as 
the  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 

This  same  order  of  growth,  so  apparent  in  the 
experience  of  the  individual  Christian,  is  wonder- 
fully apparent  in  the  experience  of  the  Christian 
Church  as  a  whole.    At  first,  as  you  know,  it  was 


180       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIRE 

almost  entirely  engaged  in  laying  the  foundations 
of  the  doctrines.  By  the  sixth  century,  almost  all 
these  doctrines  had  been  discussed  in  full,  as  well 
as  enlarged,  as  theologians  very  appropriately  used 
to  term  the  process,  in  written  standards.  Despite, 
however,  the  number  of  those  then  considered  saints, 
the  standards  of  religious  life  and  practise  were 
not,  at  that  period,  all  that  one  could  wish.  The 
Apostle  Paul  rebukes  the  Corinthians  for  carousing, 
even  to  the  extent  of  getting  drunk,  at  the  com- 
munion table ; 1  and  records  of  the  immorality  and 
violence  connected  with  the  rise  of  monasticism  and 
clerical  power  during  years  that  followed  are  too 
well  authenticated  to  need  any  more  than  mention. 
But  the  church  has  grown.  It  has  left  the  principles 
to  go  on,  as  we  hope,  to  perfection;  and  its  chief 
topics  of  interest  in  our  day  are  no  longer  concern- 
ing these  doctrines  of  which  the  Apostle  speaks,  but, 
like  the  interests  of  an  aged  man,  topics  concerning 
the  practical  bearings  of  government  and  of  disci- 
pline in  its  organization  as  a  whole,  and  of  exem- 
plary and  moral  character  in  its  individual  members. 
Tho  the  church  is  divided  into  sects  today,  the  ma- 
jority of  these  have  arisen  not  because  their  ad- 
herents have  left  the  first  principles,  mentioned  in 
our  text,  but  because  they  differ  as  to  the  best 
method  of  carrying  on  these  principles  to  perfection. 
These  different  sects  are  just  what  ought  to  be 
expected  in  a  natural  development  of  Christian  life, 
just  as  different  theories  always  result  from  differ- 

1 1  Cor.  11  :  20-24. 


PROGRESS  AND  CONSERVATISM  181 

ent  personal  experiences  of  individuals.  There  are 
in  Europe  different  schools  of  both  music  and  paint- 
ing. The  theories  of  the  masters  of  these  differ 
widely.  It  would  be  absurd  to  say  that,  therefore, 
the  masters  of  either  one  or  the  other  do  not  succeed 
in  promoting  the  cause  of  music  or  of  painting.  Yet 
no  more  absurd  than  to  say,  merely  because  of  slight 
differences  in  theory,  that  denominations  equally 
anxious  to  fulfil  in  practise  the  principles  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ  are  not  successful  in  promoting  in 
their  way  the  cause  of  Christianity.  More  than  any- 
thing else  today,  the  visible  church  needs  to  recog- 
nize the  opposite,  taught  as  well  by  common  sense 
as  by  every  analogy  that  can  be  logically  drawn 
from  the  natural  workings  of  the  human  mind. 

At  the  same  time,  while  acknowledging  that  it  is 
the  tendency  of  life,  according  to  the  impulses  of  its 
own  individuality,  to  advance  from  principles,  there 
is  no  necessity  of  supposing  that  to  leave  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  is  to  forget  or  to 
forsake  them.  You  never  can  produce  the  best  kind 
of  fruit  in  an  orchard  by  rooting  out  its  trees.  You 
must  leave  the  roots  where  they  are,  and  into  their 
trunks  or  limbs  engraft  the  new  stems.  So  with 
spiritual  fruit.  We  must  leave  everywhere  that  we 
find  it  the  old  truth,  in  so  far  as  it  is  truth,  and  graft 
on  to  it  the  new.  It  is  philosophical  to  think  that 
interpretations  and  understandings  of  religious  life 
will  differ,  according  to  the  different  degrees  of 
knowledge,  and  the  different  ways  of  thinking,  of 
the  different  ages ;  but  it  is  equally  philosophical  to 


182      SUGGESTIONS   FOB,   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

think  that  religious  life,  in  its  essence,  must  remain, 
in  every  age,  the  same.  If  so,  we  seem  forced  to 
think,  too,  that  the  true  church  of  the  future  will 
be  some  legitimate  development  out  of  the  old  church 
of  the  past;  and  that  this,  in  certain  fundamental 
features,  must  continue  the  same  so  long  as  the 
Sovereign  of  the  Church  is  one  God,  eternal  in  fore- 
sight and  immutable  in  wisdom.  What  churches  need 
today  is  not  to  break  away  from  all  their  old  stand- 
ards of  faith  and  doctrine,  but  to  draw  clearer  dis- 
tinctions in  this  intellectual  age  between  intellectual 
and  spiritual  methods  of  apprehension  and  applica- 
tion. Leaving  the  principles,  once  maintained  with 
dogmatism,  hierarchy,  and  bigotry,  they  need  to  go 
on  to  perfection  of  practise,  where  all  are  a  royal 
priesthood;1  and  love  gives2  the  divine  right  to 
exercise  the  royal  prerogative. 

The  inferences  with  regard  to  practical  life  to  be 
drawn  from  our  subject  are  very  apparent.  The 
text  is  a  rebuke  to  those,  in  the  first  place,  who  never 
advance  beyond  principles.  The  legitimate  effect  of 
such  a  state  is  the  same  as  that  of  indolence  upon 
a  child  who  never  advances  beyond  the  rudiments  of 
a  branch  of  education.  He  fails  to  go  on  far  enough 
to  enjoy  the  branch  for  himself,  or  to  benefit  others 
by  it.  What  pleasure  from  playing  music  does  one 
derive  who  has  never  got  beyond  the  exercise  book? 
And  what  appreciation  of  musical  composition  could 
such  a  state  of  progress  awaken  in  others?  If  I 
should  desire  to  cultivate  love  of  music  in  a  com- 

M  Pet.  2:  9.  2Jno.  13:  35. 


PROGRESS  AND  CONSERVATISM  183 

munity,  I  should  start  by  drilling  the  beginners  in  it, 
until  they  had  advanced  to  perfection,  until  they 
had  become  artists.  Then  they  would  take  pleasure 
in  their  work,  become  enthusiastic  about  it,  and,  by 
their  performances,  excite  the  interest  and  emula- 
tion of  others.  In  the  same  way  ought  one  to  cultivate 
the  Christian  graces;  advance  from  the  principles 
to  perfection,  become  himself  an  artist,  modeling 
after  Christ,  his  great  ideal,  until,  by  his  exemplary 
life,  he  should  excite  the  admiration  and  aspiration 
of  his  fellows.  "Let  your  light  so  shine1  that 
others  may  see  your  good  works  and  glorify  your 
father  which  is  in  heaven," — this  is  the  philosophical 
and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  Biblical,  theory  of  true 
Christian  influence.  But,  simple  as  the  truth  seems 
to  be,  do  half  the  number  of  so-called  Christians  act 
according  to  the  theory?  Nay  more,  do  they  see 
or  feel  the  importance  of  acting  so?  How  often  does 
one  meet  with  persons  whose  whole  Christian  life 
seems  to  consist  of  nothing  more  than  an  embodi- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  interference, — of  something  to 
make  uncomfortable  both  themselves  and  those 
around  them!  They  are  very  far  behind.  They  are 
all  the  time  laying  the  foundation  of  repentance 
from  dead  works.  There  is  constantly  about  them  an 
atmosphere  of  death, — nothing  life-giving.  They 
have  scarcely  advanced  so  far  even  as  to  have  faith 
toward  God.  If  they  had,  they  would  be  much  more 
cheerful  in  their  own  dispositions,  as  well  as  chari- 
table toward  others.    And,  as  an  effect  of  this  rudi- 

1  Mat.  5  :  16. 


184      SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

mental  Christian  experience,  how  many  Christian 
families  and  schools  are  there  in  which  precepts  of 
love  are  dealt  out  through  tones  like  those  of  Diog- 
enes and  Xantippe!  How  many  people  there  are 
who  seem  to  think  that  principles  are  all  that  are 
necessary  for  Christian  life,  in  themselves  or  to 
produce  it  in  others!  Just  as  tho  we  should  lure  a 
child  on  to  music,  not  by  showing  him  how  sweet 
are  the  strains  of  completed  harmony,  but  by  ding- 
ing over  constantly  the  exercises !  Or  as  tho  one 
should  lure  him  on  to  his  letters,  not  by  reading  the 
beautiful  tales  of  the  books,  but  by  repeating  in 
endless  monotony,  "h — e,  he;  m — e,  me."  It  is  not 
merely  the  empty  sounds  of  words  inviting  one  to 
trust  in  Jesus  that  shall  convert  the  friend.  It  is 
the  degree  of  perfection  of  the  soul  that  has  em- 
bodied in  itself  the  principles  of  Jesus,  spoken  out 
instinctively  and  naturally  through  every  tone  of 
the  voice,  shift  of  the  countenance,  movement  of 
muscle,  or  tendency  of  the  thought.  It  is  by  indirect 
as  well  as  by  direct  appeal.  It  is  through  character, 
expressing  advance  and  attainment  in  individual 
spiritual  life.  This  good  seed  to  be  sown  and  to 
spring  up  and  to  bear  an  abundant  harvest  will  be 
gathered  not  from  the  mere  sprout  such  as  first 
appears  in  the  springtime,  but  after  has  been 
brought  forth  "the  fruit1  of  the  Spirit, — love,  joy, 
peace,  long  suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith, 
meekness,  temperance." 

Our  text  is  a  rebuke,  in  the  second  place,  to  those 

1  Gal.  5  :  22. 


PROGRESS  AND  CONSERVATISM  185 

who  forsake  principles ;  who  instead  of  going  on  to 
perfection  in  the  same  course  as  that  of  which  the 
principles  were  the  initiatory  steps,  either  attempt 
to  reach  perfection  without  having  at  any  time  any 
principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  or,  if  they  have 
ever  had  these  principles,  to  reach  perfection  by  go- 
ing away  from  them.  It  is  bad  enough  for  a  man 
in  any  department  of  action  to  have  no  principles. 
It  is  especially  bad  for  a  Christian.  A  great  deal 
is  said  in  our  times  by  classes  of  people  who  call 
themselves  socialists,  or  humanitarians,  about  the 
inefficacy  of  Christianity  to  meet  the  individual  or 
social  wants  of  modern  civilization,  or,  if  not  of  its 
inefficacy,  of  the  sufficiency  of  schemes  that  have 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  Christian  church.  To 
these  people  our  present  standards  of  morality  seem 
to  be  so  high,  and  the  necessity  of  loving  one's  neigh- 
bor seems  to  be  so  apparent  that,  in  their  opinion, 
benevolent  associations  and  philosophical  exposi- 
tions of  the  truth  are  all  that  are  needed  in  order 
to  bring  men  to  a  knowledge  of  their  duty.  Alas 
for  the  omnipresence  of  truth!  The  very  articles 
devoted  to  an  endeavor  to  enforce  this  view  are 
filled  with  expressions  which  discredit  their  state- 
ments. Therein,  one  reads  of  Christian  civilization, 
Christian  culture,  Christian  treatment  of  neighbors, 
and  love  of  animals,  and,  contrasted  with  these 
terms,  the  words  heathenish  and  pagan, — epithets 
that  slip  out  in  spite  of  all  caution,  and  suggest 
the  truth  that  all  modern  ideas  that  indicate  true 
progress,  either  in  individuals  or  in  states,  are,  in 


186       SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

an  essential  way,  connected  with  a  development  of 
the  principles  of  Christianity.  In  a  country  where 
there  is  a  high  state  of  musical  culture,  one  finds 
hundreds  and  thousands  who,  without  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  principles  of  music,  appreciate  it,  and 
produce  it  with  some  degree  of  accuracy.  Allow 
once  the  opinion  to  prevail  in  such  a  community  that 
there  is  no  necessity  of  retaining  the  principles,  of 
having  schools  in  which  this  art  and  its  artist  can 
be  properly  cultured  in  its  rudiments,  and  very  soon 
all  taste  and  ability  to  produce  good  music  will  de- 
cline in  that  community.  Why  should  not  the 
same  effect  be  produced  upon  Christian  civilization 
where  there  were  no  high  attainments  of  spiritual 
life  in  the  individual,  or  where  there  were  no 
churches  fitted  to  train  such  a  life? 

In  an  orchard  in  Spring-time,  the  trees  are  cov- 
ered with  blossoms,  all  of  which  appear  to  have 
an  equal  purpose  and  an  equal  beauty.  Yet  thou- 
sands of  those  blossoms  fall  to  the  ground  without 
having  accomplished  the  object  of  blossoming.  From 
only  a  few  of  them  is  fruit  developed.  It  is  so  with 
spiritual  growth  in  the  world.  There  is  a  blossom- 
ing here  of  theory  and  of  practise,  and  to  the  surface 
observer  all  the  blossoms  may  appear  alike, — moral 
aims  may  seem  to  have  the  same  beauty  as  Christian 
aims,  and  philosophical  ideals  the  same  as  religious 
ideals.  Yet,  the  blossoms  of  the  one  may  fade  away 
without  result,  while  those  of  the  other  may  remain 
to  bear  fruit  for  eternity.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  our 
life  and  our  ideas  are  not  merely  a  superficial  re- 


PROGRESS  AND  CONSERVATISM  187 

suit  of  the  overflowing'  abundance  of  spiritual  growth 
on  every  side  of  us, — that  they  are  not  produced 
in  spite  of  our  own  wishes,  as  if  by  contagion,  in 
order  to  accompany  what  is  of  real  worth.  Let  us 
see  to  it,  rather,  that  they  are  the  results  of  spiritual 
elements, — of  life  within  the  soul  which  shall  remain 
and  develop  into  fruit,  the  perfectly  ripened  fruit 
of  the  gardens  of  Paradise. 

The  figure  employed  by  the  writer  of  our  text  is, 
in  itself,  very  striking-.  "Therefore,  leaving  the 
jorinciples  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  let  us  go  on  unto 
perfection,  not  laying  again  the  foundation."  We 
all  know  the  conditions  where  men  are  laying  foun- 
dations,— unhewn  stones  here  and  muddy  pit-holes 
there.  You  and  I,  friends,  have  bodies  and  a  bodily 
existence,  which,  we  are  told,  are,  if  we  be  Chris- 
tians, temples  1  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  How  can  they  be 
temples  fitted  to  promote  the  glory  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  if  the  foundations  have  never  been  laid? 
Away  with  the  rubbish !  Let  the  stones  be  cut  and 
polished,  and  lifted  to  their  places!  Let  the  soil 
about  be  leveled,  and  laid  out,  and  sodded.  When 
turret  and  spire,  blending  into  outlines  of  perfect 
symmetry,  push  up  to  remind  one  of  the  heavens; 
when,  from  within,  the  deep  music  of  the  heart 
trembles  and  throbs  like  the  diapason  of  the  organ ; 
when,  joining  in  its  praiseful  strains,  flow  forth 
the  voices  of  love,  joy,2  peace,  long  suffering,  gen- 
tleness, goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance, — 
then  and  then  alone  shall  one's  life  be  appropriately 

1 1   Cor.  6  :  19.  *  Gal.  5  :  22. 


188       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

employed  upon  the  worship  of  God  within,  or  fitted 
to  glorify  him  through  manifesting  the  worth  of  the 
principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  to  the  world 
that  regards  it  from  without. 


XII 

HOW  TO  APPROPRIATE  THE  DISCIPLINE  OF  DIS- 
APPOINTMENT 

"For  our  light  affliction,  which  is  out  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  us 
a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory;  while  we  look  not 
afthe  things  which  are  seen,  hut  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen; 
for  the  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal;  but  the  things  which  are 
not  seen  are  eternal." — 2  Cor.  4  :  17,  18. 

The  way  in  which  we  regard  an  event  makes  a 
great  difference  with  the  way  in  which  it  affects 
us.  Two  young  writers  desire  equally  to  attain  a 
high  rank  in  literature.  Both  publish  books,  and 
both  books  prove  failures.  Thej  are  perhaps  merci- 
lessly criticized.  To  the  one  author  the  chagrin  of 
failure  is  such  that  it  seems  to  cast  a  shadow  over 
his  entire  life.  It  has  so  disheartened  him  that 
he  never  again  has  courage  to  attempt  anything 
requiring  extraordinary  effort, — to  achieve  any  of 
those  plans  of  which  he  was  accustomed  to  speak 
so  fervently  in  his  youth.  To  the  other,  the  disap- 
pointment gives  but  a  passing  pain  which  acts  like 
a  spur  upon  a  high  spirited  horse  goading  on  to 
renewed  exertion.  He  becomes  more  of  a  man  than 
he  would  have  become,  had  he  been  successful  at 
the  first.  Two  persons  meet  with  what  is  mildly 
termed  a  disappointment  in  love.    The  one  mourns 

189 


190       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

and  meditates  upon  it,  until  it  overcomes  him.  The 
eye  of  hope  within  him  seems  to  be  blinded.  A  dark 
curtain  of  despair  seems  to  be  hung  over  all  his 
future.  No  more  prospects  loom  before  him,  such 
as  once  aroused  him  to  interest  and  action.  He  sits 
still,  and  stays  in  the  place  where  misery  found 
him,  a  broken-hearted  man  with  nothing  to  cheer 
in  the  present,  or  allure  in  the  future.  The  other 
may  drink  the  cup  of  sorrow  to  its  dregs,  but  he 
takes  the  potion  merely  as  a  bitter  tonic,  and  starts 
uji  to  work  off  its  effects.  His  nature  becomes  con- 
scious of  greater  depths  through  the  sufferings  that 
have  been  welled  from  them,  and  of  greater  strength 
through  the  effort  that  has  been  put  forth  to  resist 
their  overflow.  The  armies  of  two  nations  fail  in 
battle.  With  the  one,  as  with  the  Austrians,  when 
defeated  by  the  Prussians  in  1867,  that  single  test 
is  decisive.  All  that  the  enemy  desire  they  gain. 
With  the  other,  as  with  our  own  countrymen  when 
defeated  at  Bull  Run  in  1861,  that  one  test  serves 
only  as  a  discovery  of  weakness,  to  nerve  the  people 
anew  for  a  stronger  and  a  longer  struggle.  Accord- 
ingly, I  say,  that  the  way  in  which  we  regard  an 
event  makes  a  great  difference  with  the  way  in 
which  it  affects  us. 

The  reason  of  this  we  may  be  made  to  understand 
by  considering  the  object  of  these  events.  To  one 
who  believes  in  such  a  thing  as  Providence,  they 
seem,  whether  advantageous  or  disadvantageous,  to 
be  intended  to  be  not  final  but  disciplinary.  Let  us 
go  back  in  the  chapter  in  which  our  text  occurs,  and 


DISCIPLINE   OF  DISAPPOINTMENT         191 

notice  how  plainly  this  truth  is  brought  out.  "We 
are  troubled  on  every  side,"  says  the  Apostle,  "yet 
not  distrest.  We  are  perplexed  but  not  in  de- 
spair; persecuted  but  not  forsaken;  cast  down  but 
not  destroyed;  knowing  that  He  which  raised  up  the 
Lord  Jesus  shall  raise  up  us  also  by  Jesus;  for  all 
things  are  for  your  sakes,  that  the  abundant  grace 
might  through  the  thanksgiving  of  many  redound 
to  the  glory  of  God.  For  which  cause  we  faint  not, 
for  our  light  affliction  which  is  but  for  a  moment 
worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory."  In  other  words,  the  Apostle  has 
recognized  that  life  is  disciplinary,  and  that  all 
events  should  be  regarded  as  parts  of  the  processes 
rendering  it  so.  If  the  aspirant  for  literary  emin- 
ence do  not  care  so  much  for  the  relative  rank  of 
his  first  effort,  as  for  the  absolute  rank,  the  ultimate 
excellence  beyond  criticism,  that  he  desires  to  at- 
tain as  a  writer,  then  the  disappointment  following 
the  failure  of  his  first  venture  will  be  overbalanced 
by  the  consciousness  of  how  much  he  has  learned 
from  it.  If  the  lover  do  not  care  so  much  for  his 
personal  gratification  and  prestige,  for  his  private 
pain  and  public  humiliation,  as  for  that  sympathy 
and  comradeship  which  every  soul  craves  and  needs 
in  order  to  realize  its  highest  ideal  of  influence,  then 
the  loss  that  has  come  to  him  may  turn  to  gain  in 
the  recognition  that  it  brings  of  the  craving  for  love 
that  is  in  the  heart,  not  of  one,  but  of  every  man. 
If  the  rulers  or  the  people  of  a  nation  do  not  care 
so  much  for  glory  won  upon  a  battlefield,  as  for  the 


192      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

general  welfare  to  secure  which  their  government 
exists,  and  for  the  principles  which  it  represents 
and  seeks  to  advance  through  the  agency  of  war, 
then  a  single  defeat  may  merely  prove  the  precurser 
of  victory,  because  this  defeat  has  merely  evinced 
the  danger  to  which  good  is  always  exposed  wher- 
ever all  its  adherents  are  not  putting  forth  all  their 
powers  in  order  to  defend  it.  The  same  principle 
applies  to  every  disappointment.  If  we  look  upon 
property  as  the  end  of  earthly  existence,  then,  as 
soon  as  the  property  is  taken  from  us,  we  feel  as 
tho  existence  itself  were  no  longer  desirable.  But, 
if  we  prize  what  we  have  mainly  as  a  means  of 
developing  other  possibilities,  of  giving  us  position, 
and  of  widening  our  influence,  then,  when  it  is  gone, 
we  need  not  feel  as  if  everything  were  gone;  but 
merely  as  tho  a  very  important,  perhaps  the  most 
important,  instrumentality  that  we  might  have  em- 
ployed, is  no  longer  available;  and,  with  spirits 
chastened  but  not  subdued,  we  are  ready,  in  the 
absence  of  this  one  instrumentality,  to  turn  and  to 
make  use  of  others  still  present  with  us.  So,  again 
if  we  look  upon  friends  as  the  end  of  love,  so  soon 
as  they  are  taken  from  us  we  feel  as  though  love 
itself  must  die  out  because  there  seems  no  longer 
any  object  upon  which  it  can  be  exprest;  but,  if, 
with  gratitude  in  our  hearts,  we  become  accustomed 
to  recognize  them  as  agencies  for  developing  in  us 
unselfishness,  geniality,  and  kindliness ;  if  we  become 
accustomed  to  recognize  them  as  beings  sent  to  the 
earth  in  order  to  let  us  experience  in  partial  degree 


DISCIPLINE   OF  DISAPPOINTMENT         193 

what  is  the  boon  and  blessedness  of  an  existence 
where  all  is  love,  then,  when  they  are  removed,  we 
feel  thankful  that  we  have  been  permitted  to  know 
the  joys  of  such  companionship;  that  it  is  "better 
to  have  loved  and  lost  than  never  to  have  loved  at 
all";  and,  tho  this  means  of  attaining  happiness 
be  absent,  we  strive  to  the  best  of  our  ability  to 
exercise  love  according  to  the  means  still  remaining. 
Again,  our  "light  affliction  worketh  for  us  a  far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory  while  we 
look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen  but  at  the  things 
which  are  not  seen,"  not  only  because  the  events 
of  life  are  disciplinary,  but  because  life  itself  is  pro- 
gressive. The  fact  that  events  are  disciplinary  im- 
plies that  the  man  is  moving  on.  Otherwise,  Provi- 
dence itself  could  not  discipline  him,  any  more  than 
a  gardener  could  train  a  vine  that  was  not  itself,  all 
the  while,  growing.  The  context  of  the  passage  be- 
fore us  brings  out  this  idea  also  of  life  as  progres- 
sive. "Knowing  that  he  which  raised  up  the  Lord 
Jesus  shall  raise  up  us  also  by  Jesus  and  shall  pre- 
sent us  with  you.  For  which  cause  we  faint  not; 
but  tho  our  outward  man  perish,  yet  the  inward 
man  is  renewed  day  by  day."  The  main  trouble 
with  people,  when  they  succumb  to  disappointment, 
is  that  they  fail  to  perceive  this  fact, — that  every 
moment  of  life  after  a  disappointment  is  carrying 
them  away  from  it.  They  are  just  as  well  off  after 
the  loss  as  they  were  before  they  began  the  course 
that  has  ended  so  unsuccessfully.  Nay,  more.  They 
are  better  off,  because  thev  have  all  the  stored  ex- 


194      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

perience  of  the  past  from  which  to  draw,  and  by 
which  to  be  guided.  I  was  once  on  a  car  in  a  railway 
accident.  After  a  few  fearful  lurches,  a  jar  and  a 
crash,  all  was  still  for  a  moment.  Immediately 
after  that,  the  passengers  began  to  shriek.  One 
burly  countryman  cried  out,  "  There  is  no  use  of 
making  any  noise.  If  you  are  not  hurt  or  dead  now, 
you'll  not  be."  After  one  has  seen  the  flash  of 
lightning,  there  is  nothing  to  be  feared  from  the 
thunder  following  it,  however  loudly  it  may  roar. 
The  wise  man  rises  up  when  adversity  has  passed 
him,  thankful  if  he  can  rise, — if  he  have  been  harmed 
but  slightly,  if  the  flame  have  only  dazzled  his  eyes, 
if  the  report  have  merely  made  his  ears  to  tingle. 
You  have  seen  the  gardeners  in  spring-time  lopping 
off  the  lower  limbs  of  the  trees  in  order  that  the 
sap  may  not  be  exhausted  upon  them,  but  may  press 
up,  and  develop  the  higher  and  more  important 
branches.  You  and  I  have  affections  that  develop 
themselves  too  near  to  the  earth.  They  need  to  be 
lopped  off — torn  out  by  the  roots  if  necessary — in 
order  that  the  energies  of  the  soul  may  push  upward 
and  develop  themselves  in  a  higher  range  of  action. 
But,  once  more,  ''our  light  affliction  worketh  for  us 
a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory 
while  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen  but  at 
the  things  which  are  not  seen,"  not  only  because 
events  are  disciplinary,  and  because  life  is  progres- 
sive, but,  also,  because  experience  is  transitory, — al- 
ways moving  out  of  one  state  and  into  another.  Here 
is  a  man  who  starts  out  with  the  idea  that  he  is  fitted 


DISCIPLINE    OF  DISAPPOINTMENT         195 

to  be,  say,  a  clergyman.  He  lias  a  few  qualifications 
for  that  profession,  perhaps;  but  not  a  sufficient 
number  of  them.  He  tries  it  for  a  long  time,  and  fails 
utterly.  He  has  not  the  creative  power,  the  address, 
the  imagination,  or  the  tact  required  for  the  work. 
But  he  has  other  resources.  He  has  traits  that  fit 
him,  perhaps,  to  be  an  exceptionally  good  business 
man.  He  is  one  of  those  persons  endowed  with  an 
ability  almost  like  that  of  Midas,  an  ability  to  make 
about  everything  that  he  touches  turn  into  gold. 
Nevertheless,  though  conscious  of  this,  for  a  long 
time,  he  resists  the  logical  conclusion  to  be  drawn 
from  it.  He  is  stubborn.  He  will  not  turn  away 
from  that  which  he  has  once  undertaken, — forget- 
ting that  the  only  beings  in  the  universe  who  are  jus- 
tified in  not  changing  their  minds  are  monomaniacs. 
He  thinks  about  putting  his  hand  to  the  plow,  and 
turning  back;  but  does  not  take  into  account  the 
fact  that  there  is  no  sense  in  continuing  to  plow 
where  the  soil  is  barren.  He  recalls  that  rolling 
stones  gather  no  moss ;  but  he  is  willingly  oblivious 
of  the  fact  that  soil  from  which  the  stones  are  not 
moved  grows  no  grain.  But,  by  and  by,  in  spite 
of  his  refusing  to  recognize  the  voice  of  God  in 
Providence,  he  apprehends  the  force  of  Providence, 
when,  without  being  able  to  resist,  he  is  pushed  out 
of  the  one  sphere  and  into  the  other;  yet  even  then 
he  feels,  at  first,  like  Joseph  when  he  was  stript  of 
the  coat  of  many  colors,  and  sold  to  the  Egyptians. 
He  is  terribly  down  hearted  about  his  whole  experi- 
ence; but,  after  all,  this,  as  he  finds  out  later,  is 


196       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

the  only  thing  that  could  possibly  have  made  his  life 
a  success,  and  himself  the  center  of  great  influence 
for  good. 

When  we  consider  what  may  be  termed  spiritual 
success,  it  is  easy  enough  to  perceive  that  there  is 
a  sense  in  which  the  same  principle  is  applicable 
to  all  of  us.  We  all  have  bodies,  and  also  souls. 
We  are  fitted  to  live  in  a  material  realm,  and  also 
in  a  spiritual  realm, — the  one  belonging  to  time,  the 
other  to  eternity.  At  first,  we  are  prone  to  devote 
ourselves  entirely  to  bodily — material  and  temporal 
— interests.  But  we  fail  in  these.  Everv  one  of  us, 
sooner  or  later,  fails  in  them.  Why!  Because  we 
are  not  fitted  for  continued  success  in  them.  We 
have  spiritual — immaterial  and  immortal — natures 
which  can  attain  enduring  success  only  in  something 
different.  So  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  fail  a  score 
of  times,  perhaps, — until,  finally,  we  discover  the 
line  of  action  for  which  our  souls  are  fitted.  Like 
the  prodigal  son,  a  large  number  of  us  must  come 
to  ourselves — to  our  higher  better  selves — among 
the  husks  and  the  swine.  All  this  life,  in  fact,  to 
all  of  us,  must  be,  in  some  regards,  a  failure  in 
order  that  we  may  be  successful  in  the  next  life. 
' '  Tho  the  outward  man  perish,  yet  the  inward  man ' ' 
may  thus  become  "renewed  day  by  day.  Our  light 
affliction  which  is  but  for  a  moment"  may  thus 
"work  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory,  while  we  look  not  at  the  things 
which  are  seen  but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen." 

I  have  endeavored  to  show  what  effect  this  habit 


DISCIPLINE   OF  DISAPPOINTMENT         197 

of  looking  beyond  into  the  unseen  lias  upon  the  in- 
fluence exerted  upon  us  by  afflictions.  In  the  first 
place,  we  do  not  regard  them  as  final,  but  as  disci- 
plinary, and  we  endeavor  to  learn  the  lesson  which 
they  are  designed  to  teach.  In  the  second  place,  we 
do  not,  in  thought  or  action,  regard  our  career  as 
ended  by  them,  because  life  is  progressive.  So  we 
do  not  sit  down  and  die,  physically  or  spiritually, 
where  they  found  us,  but  we  go  forward  prepared  to 
avail  ourselves  of  our  experience  and  to  act  more 
wisely  in  the  future.  And,  in  the  third  place,  we  do 
not  regard  true  life  as  a  failure,  even  tho  everything 
seems  taken  from  us,  because  experience  is  transi- 
tory,— a  means  of  transition  out  of  one  state  and  into 
another;  and  we  know  that,  even  tho  we  may  be 
stript  of  friends  and  fortunes,  even  of  our  body 
itself,  we  have  nevertheless  a  friend  on  high,  a  taber- 
nacle not  made  with  hands,  and  a  soul  that  has  been 
taught,  at  last,  amid  the  loss  of  earthly  treasures, 
to  set  its  affections  upon  things  above. 

The  great  lesson  that  the  text  is  designed  to  teach, 
the  lesson  of  which  we  need  so  often  to  be  reminded 
in  this  world,  is  a  lesson  of  faith,— to  learn  to  walk 
by  that  and  not  by  sight;  strengthened  by  that  to 
be  content  to  leave  old  things  behind,  and  to  press 
forward  to  that  which  is  new.  What  should  we 
think  of  a  butterfly  that  should  crawl  out  of  its 
chrysalis  and  sit  down  with  folded  wings,  never  at- 
tempting to  fly,  and  mourn  and  mourn  to  think  that 
it  must  leave  that  dear  old  shell,  the  result  of  so 
much  labor  and  so  much  time,  behind  it.    You  and  I, 


198       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

friends,  are  at  work  weaving  very  comfortable  sur- 
roundings for  ourselves.  But  I  have  no  doubt  that 
to  the  eyes  of  higher  intelligences,  all  these  material 
wrappings  in  which  we  like  to  envelop  our  souls 
seem  very  ugly;  and  they  would  seem  very  useless, 
probably,  had  not  those  wiser  spirits  learned  that 
other  fact  about  them, — that,  before  long,  according 
to  the  laws  of  an  immutable  God  as  well  as  of  a  kind 
Father,  the  chrysalis  will  break  apart  and  disclose — 
what?  A  poor,  shivering,  naked  soul?  No,  no; — not 
while  we  look  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen!  Far 
more  beautiful  than  those  wings  must  appear,  in  the 
first  light  that  breaks  through  his  prison,  to  the  eye 
of  the  insect  that  has  known  hitherto  only  the  ex- 
periences of  the  worm,  must  appear  its  newly  ac- 
quired spiritual  wings  to  the  soul,  as  it  mounts  to 
soar  amid  the  sunlight  which  pervades  the  higher 
regions  nearest  to  the  holiest. 

I  have  tried  to  explain  the  principle  underlying 
this  text.  One  question,  however,  remains  to  be 
answered.  How  shall  one  become  enabled  so  to 
look  to  the  things  which  are  not  seen  as  to  have  all 
light  afflictions  work  for  him  a  weight  of  glory.  In 
the  first  place,  as  I  conceive,  by  trying  at  all  times 
to  keep  clearly  before  the  mind  the  conception  of  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  to  consider  constantly  how  all 
experiences  are  sent  by  him  in  order  to  develop  and 
to  perfect  character. 

In  the  second  place  by  cultivating,  while  they  are 
present  with  us,  a  spirit  of  meditation  upon  the  real 
value  of  the  objects  that  we  possess.    They  are  valu- 


DISCIPLINE   OF  DISAPPOINTMENT         199 

able  partly  in  themselves  and  partly  in  the  thoughts 
and  feelings  which  they  suggest  and  may  cultivate. 
It  certainly  would  be  an  advantage  if  one  could  re- 
gard them  in  such  a  way  that,  after  the  objects 
themselves  are  no  longer  visible,  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  which  they  suggest  may  remain.  The 
thoughtful,  philosophical  mind  might  thus  find,  from 
personal  experience,  that  it  is  ''far  better  to  have 
loved  and  lost  than  never  to  have  loved  at  all."  As 
I  have  already  intimated,  property  is  valuable  in 
itself  as  an  immediate  power  for  doing  good.  But 
it  may  be  made  valuable  for  its  effects  also  upon 
the  thoughts  and  feelings.  It  may  lift  a  man  into 
a  sphere  where  he  can  associate  with  those  who 
have  culture,  and  where  he  can  obtain  culture  for 
himself.  More  than  this,  it  may  lift  him  into  a 
sphere  where  all  the  grandest  aims  of  commercial 
enterprise  and  of  benevolent  activity  open  to  his 
vision  and  enlarge  the  range  of  his  interests.  "Well, 
now,  all  these  can  remain  after  the  property  has 
been  taken  away.  The  man  who  has  been  enterpris- 
ing and  benevolent,  while  possessing  it,  may  be  left, 
after  the  loss  of  his  material  wealth,  a  larger  and 
more  generous  character  than  he  ever  could  have 
become  if  he  had  never  had  the  wealth.  It  is  only 
the  miser  that  is  not  left  so. 

And  this  truth  applies  equally  to  the  loss  of  other 
objects  besides  wealth.  Why  is  it  that  men  in  afflic- 
tion turn  to  the  Bible,  to  meditative  prose,  and  to 
poetry,  and  derive  comfort  from  the  perusal  of 
them?     Because   the  books  containing  them  were 


200      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

written  largely  by  those  who  themselves  have  met 
with  losses,  and  who  are  expressing  the  thoughts 
and  feelings  that  remain  in  their  minds  after  the 
objects  which  they  cherish  have  been  removed 
from  their  sight.  They  are  the  fruits  of  experi- 
ence that  have  become  ripened  only  after  the 
leaves  of  life  have  lost  their  freshness  and  are  be- 
ginning to  fall  in  a  shower  of  death  all  about 
one. 

Every  man  should  try  to  be  his  own  philosopher, 
and  his  own  poet.  He  ought  to  have  his  eye  fixed 
upon  an  object  in  such  a  way  that,  whenever  the 
object  is  taken  from  the  field  of  vision,  there  will 
be  more  than  a  blank  left  to  recall  it ;  his  soul  should 
be  deep  and  clear  and  reflective;  like  a  mirror  it 
should  receive  into  the  depths  of  his  being  and  hold 
there  those  features  that  are  worth  retaining.  It 
should  be  able  to  photograph  them,  making  them 
an  inseparable,  imperishable,  immortal  part  of  him- 
self. Objects,  I  say,  are  valuable  in  themselves,  and 
in  what  they  suggest.  But  what  they  suggest  exists 
in  the  region  of  thought,  of  soul;  it  is  unseen, — a 
part  of  this  unseen  life  of  which  the  Apostle  in  the 
context  that  I  have  read  to  you  speaks ;  of  that  un- 
seen life  which  makes  the  child  faithful  to  the  words 
of  the  mother  who  died  in  his  youth;  which  makes 
the  youth  faithful  to  the  unseen  being  who  died 
amid  the  holy  days  of  first  love;  which  made  the 
disciples  faithful  to  the  unseen  Christ  after  his 
crucifixion;  which  makes  the  church  faithful  to  the 
continued  sway  of  his  unseen  spirit;  which  makes 


DISCIPLINE    OF   DISAPPOINTMENT         201 

you  and  me,  if  we  be  Christians,  faithful  to  the  un- 
seen power  that  regenerated  us. 

And,  finally,  in  the  third  place,  if  one  can  com- 
mune at  all  with  the  unseen  world,  if  there  be  any 
power  in  prayer  or  in  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures, 
by  which  it  may  be  brought  near  to  the  mind,  should 
we  not  make  use  of  this  power?  With  the  soul's 
eye,  if  not  with  the  body's  eye,  should  we  not  scan 
the  heavens,  and  try  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  glory, 
of  the  "far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of 
glory"  which  is  in  store  for  those  "whose  outward 
man  may  perish,  but  who  are  renewed  in  the  inner 
man,  day  by  day,"  and,  who  on  some  bright  morn- 
ing, may  be  permitted  to  burst  this  chrysalis  of  flesh 
and  soar  with  spirit-wings  across  a  little  space  of 
clouds  that  gather  over  a  sea  of  blue,  and  then  ap- 
proach that  shore  whose  harbor  lights  are  stars  that 
flicker  from  infinity,  whose  welcoming  glare  at  the 
wharf  is  the  dawning  glory  of  the  eternal  day. 


XIII 

UNCOMMON  OPPORTUNITIES  IN  COMMON  OCCU- 
PATIONS 

"Fear  not,  from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men." — Luke  5  :  10. 

There  is  a  significance  indicated  by  actions  that 
are  seen  which  does  not  always  attach  itself  to 
words  that  are  uttered.  When  Diogenes  seized  that 
lantern  of  his,  and  lighted  it,  and  groped  through 
the  crowded  street  of  Athens  at  broad  noon-day, 
sneering  out  "I  seek  a  man,"  all  who  saw  him  felt 
that  there  was  a  vitality  embodied  in  that  sarcasm 
upon  humanity.  It  merited,  as  well  as  received,  un- 
usual remembrance,  whereas  the  same  thought  ex- 
prest  in  mere  language  would  have  been  forgotten. 

Actions  of  this  kind  intended  to  impress  truth 
upon  the  mind  by  a  visible  representation  of  it,  are 
recorded  not  only  in  secular  but  also  in  sacred  his- 
tory. As  you  may  remember,  Ezekiel,1  on  one  oc- 
casion, gathered  a  number  of  his  goods  together  in 
a  bundle,  and  placed  them  on  his  back,  and  jour- 
neyed through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  till  he 
reached  the  wall,  and  then  dug  a  hole  through  this. 
Of  course,  he  was  asked  his  reason  for  doing  so. 
In  reply,  he  said  that  thus  should  Israel  and  her 

1  Ez.  12  :  1-12. 

202 


OPPORTUNITIES    IN    OCCUPATIONS        203 

princes  do  when  the  time  of  their  captivity  should 
come.  We  may  remember  also  how  the  prophet 
Agabus  1  met  the  Apostle  Paul  in  Cesarea,  and  took 
the  Apostle's  girdle  and  bound  his  own  hands  and 
feet  with  it,  saying,  ''so  shall  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem 
bind  the  man  that  owneth  this  girdle." 

If  other  philosophers  and  prophets  were  accus- 
tomed to  make  truth  appear  significant  through 
these  visible  embodiments  of  it,  much  more,  per- 
haps, should  we  expect  that  Jesus  would  do  this.  So 
far  as  he  had  a  Divine  message,  so  far  he  would 
pursue  Divine  methods.  But  what  are  Divine 
methods?  What  is  that  Divine  method  of  which 
we  know  the  most?  Is  it  not  this  very  way  of  em- 
bodying invisible  truth  in  a  form  made  visible? 
What  is  all  creation  but  an  expression,  in  the  opera- 
tions of  Nature  that  are  seen,  of  the  laws  and 
thoughts  of  him  who  is  not  seen,  whose  messages 
are  too  subtle  and  too  spiritual  in  essence  to  be 
otherwise  apprehended  through  our  gross  material 
senses. 

Accordingly,  it  strikes  me  as  thoroughly  consist- 
ent with  all  that  we  should  expect  from  Jesus  that 
he  should  adopt  this  method  of  presenting  truth. 
Indeed,  in  the  transaction  that  we  are  to  consider 
this  morning,  there  seems  something  so  natural — ■ 
natural,  in  the  sense  of  being  analogous — to  the 
laws  of  existence  in  the  world,  whether  physical  or 
mental,  that  one  could  almost  claim  that  this  fact 
alone,  without  further  proof,  would  furnish  strong 

1Acts  21  :  10,  11. 


204       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

presumptive  evidence  that  the  mind  of  Jesus  was 
at  one  with  the  mind  of  the  Creator  of  all  things. 
At  any  rate,  starting,  as  most  of  us  do,  with  this 
conception  and,  by  consequence,  trying  to  com- 
pare his  methods  pursued  here  with  God's  meth- 
ods pursued  everywhere,  there  is  much  of  instruc- 
tion and  encouragement  to  be  drawn  from  the 
story. 

It  was  shortly  after  the  Master,  at  the  beginning 
of  his  ministry,  and  before  he  had  selected  his  dis- 
ciples, had  been  driven  from  Nazareth,  on  account- 
of  a  discourse  of  his  in  its  synagogue,  and  had  fixed 
his  abode  at  Capernaum,  that,  early  one  morning, 
he  found  himself  upon  the  shores  of  the  Lake  of 
Galilee.  At  this  hour,  perhaps,  he  had  sauntered 
out  merely  to  have  quiet  for  meditation,  or  for  un- 
disturbed communion,  as  we  say,  with  nature.  Pos- 
sibly he  had  sought  the  locality  because  it  was  the 
market  place.  He  may  have  come  to  make  some 
needed  purchases;  or,  what  is  more  than  likely,  to 
meet  the  people  as  they  gathered  there  to  buy  or 
to  sell.  Whatever  may  have  been  his  motive,  very 
soon  a  multitude  surrounded  him.  In  their  eager- 
ness to  hear  his  utterances  they  pressed  upon  him. 
The  shores  of  the  lake  were  level.  There  was  need 
of  some  place  from  which  he  might  be  seen  and  heard 
by  those  at  a  distance.  "What  should  he  do?  Close 
by  the  shore,  he  saw  two  ships.  They  were  not  in 
use.  The  fishermen  had  left  them,  and  were  wash- 
ing their  nets.  Very  naturally,  it  occurred  to  him 
that  he  might  use  a  ship  as  a  substitute  for  a  pulpit, 


OPPORTUNITIES    IN    OCCUPATIONS        205 

especially  as  one  of  thein  belonged  to  a  friend  of 
his.  It  was  Simon  Peter's.  This  was  the  man  whom 
he  had  met,  a  few  months  previous,  further  down 
the  Jordan,  where  John  was  baptizing.  Simon,  too, 
was  in  his  ship.  He  had  not  gone  out  of  it  with 
the  other  fishermen  to  wash  the  nets.  So  the  Master 
availed  himself  of  this  opportunity,  and,  asking 
Simon  to  thrust  out  a  little  from  the  land,  where 
all  could  see  him,  he  sat  down  in  the  ship  and  taught 
the  people. 

This  introduces  the  first  lesson  that  seems  to  be 
suggested  by  our  subject.  It  concerns  the  degree  in 
which  our  ability  to  do  good  may  lie  in  the  use  that 
we  make  of  our  own  possessions.  If  Peter,  this  poor 
fisherman,  had  been  asked  to  build  a  pulpit  in  some 
expensive  synagogue,  he  would  have  been  perplexed 
enough.  And,  as  it  was,  very  probably,  with  that 
earnest  spirit  of  his,  he  had  already  been  troubled 
to  think  how  much  more  for  the  cause  of  the  Master 
could  be  done  by  those  rich  merchants  of  Capernaum 
than  by  himself.  Perhaps,  at  times,  he  had  been 
not  a  little  jealous  of  that  centurion,  whose  servant 
the  Master  had  subsequently  healed,  to  think  that 
this  mere  heathen  soldier  had  been  granted  such 
a  store  of  worldly  means  that,  without  the  help  of 
others,  he  had  been  able  to  erect  a  synagogue.  But, 
however  this  may  have  been,  certainly  Peter  had 
never  dreamed  that  his  rude  fishing  boat,  reeking 
with  its  smell  of  tar  and  fish  scales,  could,  at  any 
time,  be  used  as  the  pulpit  of  the  greatest  preacher 
in  the  world,  when  addressing  one  of  the  largest, 


206       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

most  attentive,  and,  perhaps,  most  memorable  of 
audiences  that  the  world  has  ever  known. 

Yet  so  it  was  to  be.  And  just  so,  friends,  no  mat- 
ter how  small  or  insignificant  our  possessions,  we, 
too,  may  find  some  use  for  them  that  shall  cause 
them  to  be  of  the  greatest  possible  benefit  and  bless- 
ing to  our  fellows.  The  earth  is  the  Lord's.  All 
things  are  his,  the  small  as  well  as  the  large.  He 
may  use  the  infinitesimal  as  well  as  the  infinite- 
No  degree  of  spiritual  ability  can  be  estimated  by 
material  measurements.  Whatever  instruments  may 
be  used  for  divine  purposes,  they  all  derive  from 
the  divine  touch  equal  sanctity.  And  so,  we  need 
not  wait  for  wealth  or  station,  for  palaces  or  thrones, 
before  we  can  exalt,  or  further,  the  cause  that  we 
think  holiest.  We  need  but  to  devote  to  it  that  which 
we  already  have.  The  man  who  lives  in  a  cottage 
that  contains  no  more  than  a  single  room,  if  this  be 
made  sacred  by  the  presence  of  a  consecrated  pur- 
pose, and  the  persuasion  of  a  wisdom  echoing  of 
inspiration,  may  make  that  room  more  truly  dedi- 
cated to  the  glory  of  the  Lord  than  could  be  the 
loftiest  temple  reared  above  the  most  expensive 
shrine.  The  man  who  owns  a  cart  that  can  convey 
no  single  soul  in  comfort  or  with  safety  to  itself, 
if,  nevertheless,  it  help  along  the  bearer  of  a  mes- 
sage of  encouragement  and  promise  to  a  fellow-soul 
who  else  were  lost  in  disappointment  and  despair, 
may  make  that  cart  more  efficacious  to  advance  the 
cause  of  righteousness  than  the  most  glittering 
chariots  of  the  warriors  sweeping  on  to  victory,  and 


OPPORTUNITIES    IN    OCCUPATIONS        207 

then  vanishing  in  clouds  as  fabled  in  the  legends 
of  mythology.  None  of  us  need  wait  one  moment 
for  the  means  of  doing  good.  We  have  but  to  apply 
to  good  those  things  that  we  already  hold  on  hand. 
And  who  is  there  that  possesses  nothing?  What  if 
all  material  fortunes  fail  us?  So  long  as  owning 
but  a  voice  that  can  proclaim  the  truth,  a  face  that 
can  grow  brighter  smiling  to  approve  the  right,  a 
hand  that  can  give  a  warmer  clasp  in  token  of  a 
worthier  love,  a  foot  that  can  tramp  a  little  nearer 
toward  some  fellow-soul  in  need  of  sympathy,  so 
long  do  we  possess  as  noble  means  of  influence  as 
spirits  can  deserve,  no  matter  what  they  may  de- 
sire. We  need  despond  in  so  far  only  as  we  fail  to 
use  what  we  possess.  But,  if  we  fail  in  doing  this, 
better  would  it  be  for  us  if  our  resources  were  even 
less,  better  to  pluck  out  one  eye,  to  tear  off  one  hand, 
and  cast  it  from  us,  than,  with  two  eyes,  or  with  two 
hands,  neglect  to  dedicate  them  to  the  service  of  our 
fellows. 

Our  subject  suggests  a  second  lesson  here, — 
namely  the  degree  in  which  our  ability  to  do  good 
may  depend  on  our  attending  to  our  own  business. 
We  have  noticed  how  far  our  ability  to  do  good  may 
lie  in  the  use  of  our  own  possessions.  That  lesson  had 
to  do  with  what  we  own.  This  has  to  do  with  where 
we  work.  Our  blessings  come  in  the  pathways  of  our 
own  duties.  These  fishermen  became  the  witnesses  of 
the  wonders  of  this  day,  and  were  subsequently 
called  to  do  great  things  for  the  Master,  because  they 
happened  to  be  found  here  in  the  morning  hard  at 


208       SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIFdTUAL  LIFE 

work  in  their  legitimate  employment.  As  can  easily 
be  proved  from  their  after  history,  they  were  men  of 
larger  views  and  larger  hearts  than  most  of  those 
by  whom  they  were  surrounded.  They  were  thus 
the  very  men  to  be  discontented  with  their  lot  as 
fishermen,  the  very  men  to  be  tempted  to  neglect 
their  duty  here,  because,  forsooth,  providence  had 
not  given  them  some  duty  elsewhere.  But  if  they 
had  had  such  feelings,  they  had  not  allowed  their 
despondency  to  affect  their  actions.  Through  all 
the  night  they  had  toiled  and  taken  nothing,  and 
now,  at  sunrise,  they  were  preparing  their  nets  for 
a  new  venture.  I  say  that  they  were  men  of  large 
views  and  large  hearts, — the  very  kind  of  characters 
that  all  the  world  praise  in  the  abstract  and  dislike 
in  the  concrete, — characters  of  energy  and  enter- 
prise, that  have  ideals  of  betterment,  and  that, 
struggling  to  attain  these,  lift  themselves  and  all 
about  them  some  steps  nearer  perfection, — charac- 
ters that  live  immortal  in  our  histories  because, 
throughout  their  earthly  lives,  they  turn  their  backs 
upon  the  present  and  move  forward,  and  succeed  in 
leading  others  forward,  toward  the  future.  Such 
characters  had  Peter,  James  and  John.  Such  char- 
acters, perhaps,  tho  Providence  may  yield  to  them  a 
much  more  narrow  sphere  of  influence,  have  some 
of  those  before  me  now.  Yet,  noble  as  their  like 
may  prove  themselves  at  times,  through  what  they 
do,  there  are  peculiar  dangers  that  attach  themselves 
to  their  peculiar  temperaments.  The  man  whose  im- 
pulses and  aims  are  of  a  more  contracted  sort  is 


OPPORTUNITIES    IN    OCCUPATIONS        209 

far  more  likely  to  become  a  source  of  gratification 
to  himself,  and  of  comfort  to  his  fellows.  The  rest- 
less struggle  of  the  soul  to  see  some  vast  result  or 
to  do  some  mighty  deed,  is  apt  to  find  a  vent  in  petu- 
lant experiments  upon  the  one  hand,  or  in  disheart- 
ened indolence  upon  the  other.  Such  souls  grow 
fickle  in  their  undertakings,  and  dissatisfied  vvith 
their  achievements.  And,  if  they  yield  to  either  ten- 
dency, the  rising  flush  of  promise  in  their  lives  is 
apt  to  turn,  ere  long,  into  the  blush  that  follows  the 
chagrin  of  non-fulfilment.  In  connection  with  this, 
they  seem  gradually  to  come  to  dislike  even  them- 
selves. For  this  reason,  very  naturally  perhaps, 
many  of  them  seem  to  succeed  in  teaching  almost 
everybody  else  to  do  the  same.  Indeed,  your  intel- 
lectual, high-spirited  idealist,  unless  he  has  learned 
to  restrain  his  earliest  impulses,  is  not  apt,  after  a 
little,  to  prove  himself  a  successful  candidate  for 
popularity,  or  for — what  is  very  much  more  impor- 
tant— the  influence  accompanying  popularity.  Be- 
fore it  can  be  otherwise  with  him,  he  must  learn  two 
things :  first,  to  persist  in  doing  with  his  might  what 
his  hand  or  head  finds  to  do ;  and,  second,  as  a  part 
of  this  and  furnishing  a  motive  for  it,  to  wait  pa- 
tiently till  Providence,  in  accordance  with  its  own 
laws,  has  brought  about  the  result  which  this  course 
is  fitted  to  accomplish. 

Let  us  observe  now  how  the  Master,  accordingtothe 
record  before  us,  unfolded  these  two  requirements  of 
character.  When  he  had  finished  speaking  to  the 
multitude,  he  said  to  Simon:   "Launch  out  into  the 


210      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

deep  and  let  down  your  net  for  a  draught."  Simon 
answered:  "We  have  toiled  all  night  and  have  taken 
nothing,  nevertheless,  at  Thy  word,  I  will  let  down 
the  net,"  and,  immediately  after,  the  net  was  cast. 
Now  let  us  mark  what  followed.  The  fishermen  "in- 
closed a  great  multitude  of  fishes;  and  their  net 
brake,  and  they  beckoned  unto  their  partners  which 
were  in  the  other  ship  that  they  should  come  and 
help  them,  and  they  came  and  filled  both  the  ships, 
so  that  they  began  to  sink."  Then  Peter,  amazed 
at  the  result,  "fell  down  at  Jesus'  feet,  saying,  'De- 
part from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  oh  Lord!'  for 
he  was  astonished,  and  all  that  were  with  him,  at 
the  draught  of  the  fishes  that  they  had  taken."  These 
men,  undoubtedly,  had  been  accustomed  to  associate 
the  interest  and  the  influence  of  the  Master  with 
some  extraordinary  occupation  or  emergency.  To 
have  what  they  considered  an  indication  of  his  in- 
terposition given  them  as  a  reward  for  perseverance 
in  this,  their  every-day  employment,  seemed  aston- 
ishing, indeed!  And  yet,  is  it  not  precisely  here, 
in  our  every-day  employment,  that  most  of  us  ought 
to  look  for  the  blessings  of  Providence?  If  this 
were  to  reserve  its  favors  for  the  few  fitted  by  char- 
acter and  circumstance  for  extraordinary  work, 
how  could  all  confide  in  it?  Under  such  conditions, 
would  there  not  be  partiality?  Do  you  think  that 
there  is  any  legitimate  business,  unholy  or  unclean, 
in  the  sight  of  him  before  whom  all  of  us  are  equal  ? 
We  are  to  do  with  our  might !  what  our  hands  find 

1  Ecel.  9  :  10. 


OPPORTUNITIES    IN    OCCUPATIONS        211 

to  do,  not  to  try  to  find  something  else  to  do.  When 
we  are  at  our  daily  tasks,  we  need  not  be  despon- 
dent because  we  can  not  be  at  our  prayers ;  when  we 
are  journeying,  because  we  can  not  be  in  our  closets. 
Providence  can  send  its  benedictions  equally  to  the 
custom  house,  or  to  the  church ;  can  grant  its  favors 
equally  in  the  market,  or  in  the  monastery.  Our 
worship  of  work  will  be  rewarded  just  as  amply  if 
we  be  casting  nets  into  the  sea  as  if  we  were  cast- 
ing what  others — our  fathers,  perhaps — have  gained 
into  the  coffers  of  some  shrine.  Away  with  a  view 
that  lessens  our  conception  of  God  as  a  Father  of 
all,  that  we  may  conform  it  to  a  conception  of  him 
as  a  patron  of  the  few!  Away  with  a  view  of  life 
that  lessens  our  conception  of  the  sacredness  of  or- 
dinary labor  by  supposing  it  to  be  too  far  removed 
to  feel  the  touch  of  him  in  whom  "all1  live  and 
move  and  have  their  being."  Let  us  toil  on,  friends, 
toil  like  these  fishermen,  all  day,  all  night  if  need 
be,  year  in  and  year  out,  and,  perhaps,  in  some 
monotonous  way  that  seems  to  do  no  more,  to  gain 
no  more,  than  to  keep  an  aching  body  from  a  threat- 
ening grave.  Let  us  wait  on  the  Lord.  We  are 
where  he  has  placed  us.  If  so,  let  us  believe  that 
we  are  exactly  where  he  intends  to  bless  us. 

Such  a  belief  may  be  furthered  in  us,  when  we 
consider  a  third  lesson  that  seems  to  be  suggested  by 
our  subject.  It  is  this, — that  our  ability  to  do  good 
may  depend  not  only  on  our  using  our  own  posses- 
sions, and  on  our  attending  to  our  own  business,  but 

*Acts   17  :  28. 


212       SUGGESTIONS   FOE    SPIKITUAL   LIFE 

on  our  developing  our  own  characters,  and  obtaining 
the  sort  of  success  that  conies  through  this  process. 
The  lessons  already  considered  have  taught  us  what 
a  man  should  use  and  where  he  should  use  it.  Now 
let  us  answer  the  question  why.  Is  it  not  because  the 
good  done  in  a  Christian  way  is  done  through  char- 
acter,— through  that,  first,  of  the  Christ,  and,  sec- 
ond, of  his  followers?  Therefore  good  character, 
and  the  development  of  it  in  one,  are  essential  to 
Christian  influence.  Not  what  a  man  uses,  or  where 
he  works,  but  the  spirit  that  he  has,  or  is,  is  the  im- 
portant question,  and  small,  humble  occupations  may 
show  this  as  well  as  great  and  exalted  ones.  Goethe 
and  Shakespeare  are  as  consummate  artists  in  their 
ballads  and  sonnets  as  in  their  tragedies  and  long 
plays.  Look  at  this  subject  in  the  light  of  the 
Master's  encounter  with  these  fishermen.  He  was 
in  need  of  earnest  and  intelligent  workers  to  aid 
him  in  his  mission  of  proclaiming  truth  and  found- 
ing the  church.  Such  characters  he  saw  before  him 
now;  men  who  had  energy,  yet  kept  in  check  by  pa- 
tience; who  had  aspiration,  yet  balanced  by  per- 
severance. So  he  chose  these.  And,  likevhim  today, 
a  wise  man  searching  for  assistants  in  a  work  in- 
volving any  increase  in  emolument  or  dignity,  will 
choose  the  men  who,  in  an  inferior  situation,  have 
evinced  traits  worthy  of  preferment.  The  less  ex- 
ternal inducements  there  may  be  in  a  man's  position 
to  stimulate  his  activity  and  diligence,  the  more 
fitted  for  advancement  is  he  on  account  of  having 
exhibited  such  traits,  notwithstanding  unfavorable 


OPPORTUNITIES    IN    OCCUPATIONS        213 

surroundings.  The  surest  way  for  a  man  to  get 
away  from  inferior  work  is  to  show  himself  a  su- 
perior workman.  Then  the  world  will  learn  that 
the  two  things — the  position  and  the  person — do  not 
fit;  he  will  be  taken  elsewhere.  However  this  may 
be  as  regards  the  present  world,  it  must  be  the  case 
as  regards  the  next.  Every  mind  must  acknowledge 
the  truth  of  the  Master's  illustration  when  he  rep- 
resents the  Lord  as  saying  to  his  servant,1  "Thou 
hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make 
thee  ruler  over  many  things."  Is  it  not  a  consola- 
tion to  think  that  in  the  government  of  God  earthly 
conditions  can  not  cramp  the  possibilities  of  the 
soul?  The  servant  and  the  Master,  the  bond  and  the 
free,  the  child  and  the  mature,  the  woman  and  the 
man,  each  in  his  or  her  appropriate  sphere  fulfilling 
duty  in  it  without  fretting  impatiently  or  striving 
recklessly  to  encroach  upon  the  sphere  of  another, 
without  imperiling  the  peace  of  society  or  state  by 
reformation  or  revolution,  can  stand  an  equal  chance 
of  receiving  the  plaudit  "well  done,  thou  good  and 
faithful  servant." 

So,  according  to  the  passage  of  scripture  which 
contains  our  text: — after  we  are  told  of  the  aston- 
ishment, not  only  of  Peter,  but  of  James  and  John, 
we  are  informed  that  Jesus  said  to  Simon,  "Fear 
not,  from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men,"  or,  as 
reported  in  Mark  1:17,  he  said  to  all,  "I  will  make 
you  to  become  fishers  of  men."  The  narrative  con- 
cludes by  saying,  "and  when  they  had  brought  their 

1  Mat.  25  :  21. 


214       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

ships  to  land,  they  forsook  all  and  followed  him." 
Their  fishing  boats  and  nets  were  not  much  to  for- 
sake, perhaps ;  but  undoubtedly  they  were  as  accept- 
able to  the  Master  as  if  they  had  been  as  costly  as  a 
modern  battleship. 

One  can  hardly  emphasize  too  strongly  this  third 
lesson  suggested  by  our  subject.  These  fishermen 
were  removed  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  sphere  of 
action  for  the  very  reason  that,  in  the  former,  they 
had  not  discarded  nor  neglected  their  own  tools  or 
tasks.  This  is  in  accordance  with  a  law  exemplified 
everywhere  in  life.  As  a  rule,  promotions  come  be- 
cause of  what  men  have  made  and  proved  themselves 
to  be  through  using  what  they  have  just  where  they 
are.  The  patience  and  skill  cultivated  in  fishermen, 
through  their  being  obliged  to  wait  for  occasions  to 
avail  themselves  of  opportunities,  suggested  to  our 
Lord  their  fitness  to  become  fishers  of  men, — their 
fitness  to  be  those  who  should  cast  their  nets  into  the 
sea  of  human  iniquity,  unconscious  of  what  manner 
of  men  should  be  drawn  to  them,  content  to  await  the 
occasions  and  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunities 
furnished  by  Providence.  And  so  every  occupation 
in  life  has,  in  itself,  the  possibilities  and  prepara- 
tions of  advancement.  It  is  the  machinist  who  be- 
comes the  inventor ;  the  soldier,  the  general ;  the  ac- 
countant, the  financier;  the  politician,  the  states- 
man ;  and  in  every  material  occupation  there  is  the 
possibility  of  spiritual  adaptation.  These  fishermen 
of  our  text  were  to  become  fishers  of  men. 

All  told,  the  lessons  to  be  learned  from  our  sub- 


OPPORTUNITIES    IN    OCCUPATIONS        215 

ject  seem  to  be  these, — that  we  should  be  willing  to 
accept  and  to  nse  those  instrumentalities  and  situa- 
tions that  we  find  prepared  for  us,  persevering  in 
what  we  have  to  do  now,  and  patient  in  awaiting 
what  may  be  in  store  hereafter.  Just  where  we  are, 
in  the  household,  in  the  school,  in  the  market,  in  the 
warehouse,  in  the  office,  or  in  the  church,  we  are 
to  work  out  our  own  salvation,  and,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, with  our  own,  that  of  our  neighbors. 

With  one  more  word  let  me  close.  It  is  well  to 
notice  the  peculiar  expression  of  the  Master,  "Fear 
not,  from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men."  It  is 
the  humble  soul  who  has  learned  of  his  own  un- 
worthiness  and  does  not  deem  himself  fitted  for  a 
more  important  place,  but  rather  fears  the  contrary, 
that  is  often  the  first  to  receive  promotion.  The 
ambition  awakened  by  the  high  opinion  that  one  has 
of  his  own  merits  is  a  different  thing  from  the  as- 
piration awakened  by  the  high  opinion  that  one  has 
of  the  amount  of  work  that  needs  to  be  done  in  the 
world.  Too  high  an  opinion  of  one's  self  may  be 
fatal  to  spiritual,  if  not  to  temporal,  success.  Usually 
with  feelings  awed  by  a  consciousness  of  grave  re- 
sponsibility, the  really  great  man  bows  to  receive  a 
great  commission.  Never,  except  with  feelings  awed 
by  a  consciousness  of  great  unworthiness,  does  any 
man  kneel  to  receive  a  spiritual  advancement. 
The  Master  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which 
was  lost, — to  call,1  not  the  righteous — who  deemed 
themselves  such — but  sinners  to  repentance.   "Would 

1Mat.  9  :  13. 


216       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

any  of  us  stand  high  in  his  estimation?  Would  we 
be  advanced  to  spheres  of  influence  for  eternity  as 
well  as  for  time?  Let  us  acknowledge  our  own 
weakness  and  waywardness  and  wickedness,  and  let 
us  contrast  with  them  his  patience  and  long  suffer- 
ing, his  devotion  and  sacrifice.  Then,  when  we  feel 
like  crying  out  with  Simon,  "Depart  from  me,  for  I 
am  a  sinful  man,  oh,  Lord,"  then  will  be  the  time 
when  we  shall  be  fitted  best  to  receive  from  him  the 
words,  "Fear  not,  from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch 
men."  From  henceforth  we  may  be  prepared,  too, 
like  these  early  discij^les  of  his,  to  forsake  all 1  and 
to  follow  him, — not  through  this  world  alone,  but 
to  that  place  where  "eye2  hath  not  seen  nor  ear 
heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man, 
the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  him." 

lLuke  5:  11.  21  Cor.  2:  9. 


xrv 

THE  SMALL  FIDELITY   THAT  PEECEDES  GREAT 

FULFILMENT 

"He  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also  in  much." 
—Luke  16  :  10. 

Does  an  impassable  gulf  separate  the  great  and 
the  small  affairs  of  life?  Many  seem  to  think  that 
it  does.  Every  hoy  has  heard  of  the  eccentricity  of 
genius.  Few  men  have  not  listened  to  denunciations 
of  the  household  accomplishments  of  intellectual 
women.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  village  bar- 
room that  does  not,  now  and  then,  echo  with  laughter 
at  reports  of  the  petty  foibles  of  those  who — all 
things  considered — may  be  the  best  characters  of 
the  neighborhood.  When  Ave  hear  of  a  person  like 
the  German  historian  Neander,  coming  from  his  lec- 
ture-room sad  at  heart  because  he  has  been  struck, 
as  he  supposes,  with  sudden  lameness,  and  convinced 
to  the  contrary  by  only  the  voice  of  his  sister  assur- 
ing him  that  he  has  walked  home  all  the  way  through 
the  street  with  one  foot  on  the  sidewalk  and  one 
in  the  gutter;  when  we  hear  of  the  unfortunate 
private  traits  in  the  home  circle,  of  some  of  the  most 
strenuous  advocates  for  greater  fidelity  and  purity 
there;   when   we   notice   the    small   jealousies    and 

217 


218       SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

meannesses  of  some  of  the  most  active  in  great 
schemes  of  benevolence, — at  such  times  all  of  us  may 
be  tempted  to  surmise  that,  after  all,  he  that  is 
faithful  in  much  is  not  by  any  means  necessarily 
faithful  also  in  that  which  is  least.  Yet  our  text 
affirms  the  contrary;  and  the  subject  is  so  important 
in  its  bearings  upon  certain  features  of  life  and  in- 
fluence that  I  have  thought  that  it  might  not  be  un- 
profitable to  call  attention  to  it  this  morning. 

"He  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least,  is  faith- 
ful also  in  much."  Our  reasons  for  surmising  the 
contrary  will  be  found  unsubstantial,  when  we  ex- 
amine them.  As  applied  to  genius,  for  instance, 
it  is  true  that  men  of  great  intellectual  power  often 
become  so  absorbed  in  the  one  department  to  which 
they  have  devoted  themselves,  as  to  become  oblivious 
of  the  demands  of  any  other  department.  It  is  re- 
lated of  Dante,  for  instance,  that,  on  one  occasion, 
setting  out  from  home  for  the  express  purpose  of 
witnessing  a  great  public  procession,  he  entered  a 
bookstore  and  became  so  absorbed  in  a  volume  that 
happened  to  interest  him  that  upon  his  return  he 
asserted  that  he  had  neither  seen  nor  heard  the 
slightest  signs  of  the  procession,  which,  meantime, 
had  passed  almost  immediately  in  front  of  him. 
Socrates  is  reported  to  have  remained  frequently 
an  entire  day  and  night  in  the  same  attitude,  ab- 
sorbed in  meditation.  Marini,  the  Italian  poet,  while 
revising  his  Adonis,  became  so  callous  to  other  con- 
siderations that  one  of  his  limbs  is  said  to  have 
remained  burning  for  some  time  without  giving  him 


FIDELITY   IN   LITTLE    THINGS  219 

any  conscious  sensation,  while,  more  to  our  point, 
perhaps,  Vaugelas,  that  most  studiously  polished 
writer  of  the  French  language,  was  so  neglectful 
while  living  of  his  pecuniary  obligations,  that,  as  a 
last  resort,  when  dying,  he  left  his  corpse  to  his 
surgeons  for  the  benefit  of  his  creditors.  What  of 
such  instances?  Do  they  disprove  the  statement 
of  the  text?  Not  necessarily.  For  the  moment  that 
we  ask  why  it  was  that  these  men,  and  a  thousand 
others  who  might  be  mentioned,  manifested  so  little 
interest  in  matters  of,  at  least,  seeming  importance, 
we  shall  find  that  we  cannot  explain  the  conditions 
by  supposing  that  they  were  acting  upon  the  prin- 
ciple of  being  faithless  to  the  lesser  in  order  to  be 
faithful  to  the  greater  concerns  of  thought  and  ac- 
tion. With  them,  in  fact,  there  was  no  question  at 
all  between  lesser  or  greater — between  degrees  of 
concern — but  between  the  kinds  of  matters  upon 
which  they  should  concern  themselves. 

That  this  was  so  will  be  evident  the  moment  that 
we  turn  to  consider  their  actions  as  manifested  in 
their  attention  to  the  kinds  of  work  to  which  they 
were  devoted.  Here  we  shall  discover  any  disposi- 
tion rather  than  a  lack  of  fidelity  to  that  which  is 
least.  On  the  contrary,  the  very  abstraction  of  mind 
that  has  been  noticed  may  be  said  to  result  from  an 
opposite  tendency.  The  organs  of  thought,  like 
those  of  the  hand,  are  abstracted,  or,  as  we  may 
say,  contracted,  as  a  rule,  in  order  to  concentrate 
upon  that  which  is  least.  And  you  will  find  inva- 
riably that  one  difference  between  a  great  mind  and 


220       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

a  small  mind  lies  in  the  greater  ability  of  the  for- 
mer to  deal  with — in  the  sense  of  mastering — 
minutia?.  It  can  penetrate  into  the  deep  and  narrow 
recesses  of  nature,  and  extract  its  secrets.  It  can 
analyze  the  superficial  generalities  of  appearances, 
and  bring  to  light  the  hidden  truth  beneath  them. 
Take  Newton,  or  rather,  perhaps,  what  is  popularly 
said  of  him.  Before  his  day,  millions  of  apples  had 
fallen  to  the  ground,  thousands  of  boys  had  blown 
soap-bubbles.  It  was  only  the  penetration  of  his 
keen  intellect  that,  piercing  behind  each  phenom- 
enon, saw  the  law  of  gravitation  in  the  one,  and 
the  properties  of  light  in  the  other.  Take  Lessing. — 
Wi eland,  Herder,  Goethe  and  Schiller  might  have 
thought  and  written  and  been  forgotten,  had  not 
this  great  critic  had  the  discernment  to  sift  from 
the  works  of  the  ancients  and  of  the  English  those 
elements  of  excellence  which  his  greater  followers 
were  led  to  recognize  through  his  influence,  and  to 
develop  and  make  prominent  in  their  own  works. 
Take  Ruskin. — That  great  English  painter,  Turner, 
might  have  been  thought  worthy  to  receive  scarcely 
a  garret  for  a  gallery,  had  not  this  sympathetic 
critic  held  the  microscopic  lens  of  his  own  subtle 
intellect  to  all  the  world,  and  bade  them  view  the 
beauties  of  this  painter's  landscapes  magnified. 
"  A  little  thing,"  said  an  ancient  philosopher,  "gives 
perfection,  altho  perfection  is  not  a  little  thing." 
When  Pascal  was  writing  his  "Provincial  Letters" 
he  recommenced  some  of  them  seven  or  eight  times, 
and  was  frequently  twenty  days  occupied  upon  one. 


FIDELITY   IN   LITTLE    THINGS  221 

After  a  labor  of  eleven  years  Virgil  pronounced  bis 
Aeneid  imperfect.  Milton  and  Addison  were  both 
scrupulously  careful  about  punctuation  marks,  and 
the  number  of  corrections  in  the  text  of  Tennyson's 
earlier  poems  since  their  first  publication  is  said 
to  equal  almost  the  number  of  his  pages.  Probably, 
Homer  would  not  have  stood  where  he  does  in  the 
history  of  poetry,  had  he  not  spent  his  entire  ma- 
ture life  in  traveling  about  the  country,  and  repeat- 
ing and,  therefore,  constantly  and  inevitably  revis- 
ing his  Iliad  and  Odyssey.  In  fact,  as  every  artist 
— but,  unfortunately,  not  every  critic — knows,  it  is 
largely  in  the  subtle  small  points  that  a  superior 
production  differs  from  an  inferior  one.  It  is  these 
that  determine  the  quality  of  the  work,  that  make 
it  fine-grained,  and  cause  the  difference  between 
the  products  of  a  master  and  of  an  amateur.  The 
great  logician  never  drops  a  single  link  that  will 
strengthen  the  chain  of  his  argument.  The  melody 
and  rhythm  of  every  line  of  the  great  poem  pulse 
with  the  living  presence  of  the  artistic  ideal  that 
inspires  the  whole.  The  great  painting  can  stand 
the  test  of  the  microscope.  "Turner 'never  passes 
his  brush  over  one  thousandth  of  an  inch,"  savs 
Ruskin,  "without  meaning."  In  every  department 
of  intellectual  effort  the  statement  of  the  text  is 
confirmed.  He  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least, 
is  faithful  also  in  much. 

And  when  we  turn  from  intellectual  to  social  re- 
sults, we  find  abundant  indications  of  the  operation 
of  the  same  law.     So  far  as  position  in  society  is 


222       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

determined  by  the  riches  that  men  have  accumulated, 
it  is  determined  according  to  this  principle.  Sev- 
eral years  ago  a  poor  boy  from  the  country  called 
upon  a  great  banker  in  London  and  asked  for  a  po- 
sition. The  boy  was  well  recommended.  But  no ; 
the  bank  had  no  vacancy.  He  was  not  needed.  He 
left  the  office,  and  started  to  cross  the  little  court 
that  intervened  between  it  and  the  main  thorough- 
fare. Before  he  had  reached  that,  the  porter  of 
the  bank  was  sent  to  call  him  back.  The  great 
banker  had  changed  his  mind.  A  place  in  the  bank 
would  be  made  for  the  boy.  Many  years  later,  he 
had  become  not  only  a  partner  of  the  firm,  but  the 
Lord  High  Treasurer  of  the  Kingdom.  Then  the 
one  who  had  ordered  his  recall  told  him  why  he 
had  done  so.  "As  you  were  crossing  the  court," 
he  said,  "I  saw  you  stoop  down  and  pick  up  a  pin, 
and  place  it  carefully  in  your  waistcoat.  From 
that  I  knew  that  you  were  the  sort  of  boy  that  our 
bank  needed."  So  universally  the  men  who  can 
coin  dollars  are  those  who  are  careful  about  the 
dimes. 

And  more  than  this,  when  the  money  has  been 
earned,  those  who  obtain  a  broad  social  influence 
on  account  of  having  it  are  they  who  spend  it  in 
a  manner  faithfully  to  fulfil  the  lesser  demands  of 
life, — not  those  who  give  ostentatiously  and  greatly, 
so  much  as  those  who  are  also  generous  in  secret 
and  benevolent  in  little  things.  Look  around  you 
and  see  if  this  statement  be  not  true.  Who  are  the 
men  successful  in  achieving  those  results  on  account 


FIDELITY   IN   LITTLE    THINGS  223 

of  which  wealth  is  considered  by  most  of  us  desir- 
able1? Who  are  those  whom  wealth  really  renders 
respected,  influential  and  beloved!  Are  they  not 
those  who  are  faithful  in  spending  it  upon  that  which 
is  least,  whose  money  renders  their  own  homes  com- 
fortable, their  persons  attractive,  their  conversation 
intelligent,  and  their  residence  in  a  community  an 
undeniable  advantage  to  the  community? 

Or,  so  far  as  high  social  position  is  determined 
by  intelligence,  who  are  they  whose  intelligence  most 
promotes  this?  Are  they  simply  the  learned  in  some 
isolated  department,  or  the  brilliant? — No;  rather 
those  in  whom  knowledge  and  attainment  are  de- 
veloped less  eccentrically  than  comprehensively; 
who  are,  so  to  speak,  less  sharp  than  round.  The 
very  words  that  we  use  to  designate  them  indicate 
this.  We  speak  of  their  culture  and  refinement. 
Both  terms  imply  intelligence  pervading  the  whole 
intellectual  and  emotional  nature;  extending  to  its 
least  as  well  as  to  its  greatest  manifestations. 
There  is  many  a  learned  man  and  many  a  brilliant 
genius  whose  attainments  and  abilities,  though  rec- 
ognized to  their  full  extent,  gain  for  their  owner 
no  respect  or  influence  that  is  really  worth  while, 
simply  because  he  himself  is  a  selfish  boor,  touching 
humanity  with  only  the  harsh  grip  by  means  of 
which  he  wishes  all  to  recognize  that  he  has  force. 
Such  a  man  may  imagine  himself  popular,  but  he  is 
making  the  same  mistake  that  we  have  all  seen  made 
by  a  very  inexperienced  boy  who  fancies  that  he  is 
tickling  another  when  he  is  merely  torturing  him. 


224       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

Once  more,  so  far  as  social  standing  is  determined 
by  character,  this  principle  applies.  What  are  the 
indications  of  character  in  any  circumstances? — The 
great  things  of  life,  the  great  words  or  deeds?  If 
some  of  us  waited  till  we  had  produced  these,  we 
never  should  have  any  character  at  all.  Those  of 
you  who  have  ever  had  an  experience  of  complete 
enthusiastic  devotion  to  some  friend,  if  you  can  re- 
call it,  will  bear  me  out  in  saying  that  they  were 
no  great  things,  but  rather  unobtrusive  glances  of 
the  eye,  unconscious  tones  of  the  voice,  and  acci- 
dental methods  of  expression  that  occasioned  and 
continued,  yes — and  if  such  were  our  fate — in  the 
end  destroyed  the  friendship.  Do  we  not  all  recog- 
nize that  any  deep-seated,  constitutional,  state  of 
mind  is  discovered  better  when  a  man  is  off  his 
guard  than  when  he  is  on  his  guard?  When  he  is 
off  his  guard,  Ave  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  soul  as 
it  is;  when  he  is  on  his  guard,  we  see  only  what 
he  chooses,  as  a  result  of  calculation,  to  show  us. 
So  I  say  that  it  is  the  little  instinctive,  spontaneous, 
unpremeditated  acts  that  show  the  tendencies  of 
friendly  or  unfriendly  feeling.  Unless  we  be  the 
merest  brutes  in  our  susceptibilities,  the  measure 
of  our  love  to  one  is  never  determined  by  the  mag- 
nificence of  the  presents  that  he  lavishes  upon  us, 
or  by  the  fulsomeness  of  his  public  flatteries.  In 
the  ordinary  intercourse  of  every-day  life,  when 
judging  of  those  about  us,  we  all  of  us  believe  that 
"he  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least,  is  faithful 
also  in  much." 


FIDELITY   IN   LITTLE    THINGS  225 

The  transition  from  the  influence  of  character  in 
social  relations  to  the  whole  realm  of  spiritual  re- 
lations is  very  slight.  For  what  determines  one's 
spiritual  relations  but  his  character,  that  something 
pertaining  to  the  soul  that  lies  back  of  mere  out- 
ward manifestations.  Not  what  a  man  says  or  does 
merely, — but  what  a  man  is,  habitually,  in  that  un- 
seen life  which  is  supposed  to  be  behind  all  words 
and  deeds, — this  determines  his  religious  condition. 
A  man  has  Christian  faith  to  perfection  in  only  the 
degree  in  which  he  is  faith-full,  i.  e.,  full  of  faith  in 
the  Christ,  in  God,  and  in  the  Divine  promises,  plans 
and  methods ; — and,  when  he  is  faithful,  this  fact  will 
evince  itself,  not  merely  in  the  great  things,  but  also 
in  the  least  things.  When  we  visit  a  church,  and 
listen  to  the  Scripture  and  the  voice  of  prayer  or 
of  exhortation,  we  are  reminded  from  the  outside  of 
the  obligations  of  religion,  and  when  called  to  con- 
sider these,  the  fear  of  consequences  to  ourselves  in 
the  future,  or  of  the  disapprobation  of  others  about 
us,  whose  eyes  are  upon  us,  may  cause  us  to  con- 
form to  religious  requirements.  But  if  we  conform 
to  them  in  the  smaller  matters,  when  there  is  nothing 
external  to  impel  us  to  do  so,  then  we  evince  far 
more  decidedly  that  our  external  good  deeds  are  a 
truthful  expression  of  a  constant  internal  condition 
of  mind  and  spirit. 

There  are  two  thoughts  that  seem-  to  be  very  for- 
cibly suggested  by  the  statement  of  the  text.  The 
first  is  that  the  principle  of  religion  to  which  it  gives 
expression  takes  us  all   in.     It  leaves  no  one  out. 


226       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

Some  of  us — and  they  are  often  the  most  conscien- 
tious and  earnest  of  us — are  inclined  to  be  despon- 
dent, at  times,  because  there  seems  to  be  so  little 
in  the  world  that  is  of  importance,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  of  such  a  nature  that  we  ourselves,  by  sur- 
rounding circumstances  or  by  our  acquirements  or 
ability,  are  fitted  to  do  it.  We  think  occasionally, 
and  think  rightly,  that  we  would  gladly  suffer  per- 
secution or  imprisonment  if,  by  this  means,  we  could 
only  exert  the  sort  of  influence  that  we  feel  to  be 
worthy  of  our  aspirations.  We  sometimes  find  it 
hard  work  to  keep  from  envying  others  before  whom, 
as  contrasted  with  ourselves,  the  prospects  of  life 
seem  to  open  so  many  more  avenues  than  to  us  for 
acquiring  individual  good  for  themselves,  and  also 
good  for  their  fellows.  But  our  text,  as  I  have  said, 
takes  us  all  in,  just  as  fully  as  it  does  any  one.  "He 
that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least," — this  is  the 
test;  and  there  is  no  circumstance,  acquirement  or 
ability  in  life  so  small  and  limited  that  it  cannot 
be  included  in  what  is  meant  by  this  word  least. 

The  other  thought  suggested  by  the  text  is  this, 
that  the  principle  of  religion  to  which  it  gives  ex- 
pression not  only  takes  us  all  in,  but  it  takes  in  all 
of  us,  i.  e.,  all  that  there  is  of  ourselves,  all  the  de- 
partments of  our  being — the  whole  man.  Making 
a  success  of  one's  life — by  which  I  mean  producing 
a  result  of  perfect  manhood — is  very  much  like  mak- 
ing a  statue.  The  sculptor  first  models  his  clay  so 
as  to  represent  the  general  outlines;  then  he  puts 
on  the  finishing  touches,  and,  tho  the  clay-model  of 


FIDELITY   IN   LITTLE    THINGS  227 

the  statue  may  remain  apparently  completed  for 
years — years  in  which  he  may  be  working  upon 
many  other  figures — he  hardly  ever  looks  at  it  with- 
out feeling  an  inclination  to  change  this  feature,  or 
that  feature,  and  thus  to  make  it  a  little  more  satis- 
factory. So  with  a  man  when  trying  to  mold  an 
ideal  character.  He  is  first  interested  in  the  gen- 
eral outlines;  and  these,  in  all  men,  as  we  know, 
are  very  much  alike.  There  are  certain  traits  which, 
as  a  rule,  all  Christians  possess.  But  these  do  not 
suffice.  As  long  as  a  man  lives  he  feels  that  other 
minuter  features  must  be  changed  before  the  whole 
can  be  perfect.  Therefore,  you  see  how  interesting 
life  can  become  and  how  its  interest  need  never  die 
out.  Everyone  can  become  an  artist,  his  model  of 
manhood  the  great  Master;  the  material  upon  which 
he  works,  himself;  and  those  whom  his  product  in- 
spires, the  world,  for  the  sake  of  which  the  Master 
came,  and  lived  and  died. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  those  hold  a  wrong 
theory  who  suppose  that  a  man  can  get  religion,  and 
get  it  perfectly — he  can  begin  to  get  it,  of  course — 
in  a  few  moments.  If  we  could  get  it  thus,  what 
would  be  the  use  of  our  continuing  to  live  on  the 
earth?  What  should  we  be  able  to  gain  from  our 
experience  here1?  We  ought  to  have  a  theory  ad- 
justed to  all  the  demands  of  human  conditions. 
When  we  recognize  this  fact,  and  in  the  degree  in 
which  we  do  it,  we  shall  be  prepared  to  realize  how 
much  we  need  to  apply  our  religion  to  the  small 
duties  of  every-day  life.    It  will  not  do,  as  some  of 


228       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

us  seem  to  indicate  by  our  practise,  to  apply  it  to 
only  greater  matters.  It  is  not  every  one  of  us 
who  is  called  upon  to  slay  the  adversary  in  the  shape 
of  some  roaring  lion.  If  it  were  so,  every  one,  per- 
haps, would  feel  the  need  of  assistance  from  the 
Spirit  that  alone  can  strengthen  us  so  as  to  make 
what  religion  we  have  triumphant.  Some  of  us  are 
battling  all  our  lives  with  the  smallest  obstacles. 
"We  can  crush  a  million  gnats  in  our  hands  at  once, 
perhaps — but  each  of  them  may  sting.  How  often 
can  the  least  of  our  household  and  business  cares 
vex  and  annoy  and  startle  us  out  of  all  decorum 
and  circumspection?  And  if  the  least  things  try  us 
and  tempt  us  into  wrong,  then  in  these,  by  far  the 
most  ordinary  occurrences  of  life,  we  need  the  as- 
sistance of  the  Spirit  that  we  may  resist  and  over- 
come. 

But  think,  friends,  when  we  do  call  down  the  aid 
of  the  Spirit,  and  become  conscious  of  his  assistance 
in  these  least  things,  how  the  very  fact  that  he  is 
present  in  them,  and  that  we  feel  his  presence  in 
them,  transfuses  with  a  new  interest  the  whole  uni- 
verse of  agencies  and  objects.  If  present  in  these 
least,  how  much  more  apparently  so  in  the  greater? 
Recognize  the  seeds  of  divine  influence  in  the  small- 
est objects,  in  the  minutest  germs  that  can  be  filtered 
between  any  of  the  atoms  of  the  sod  or  stone  on 
which  we  tread,  and  how  much  more  reason  have  we 
to  recognize  it  when  we  think  of  its  matured  devel- 
opments, springing  above  the  heavens, — the  stars, 
their    clustered    fruit,    and    paradise    amid    their 


FIDELITY   IN   LITTLE    THINGS  229 

branches.  And' then,  when  thought  returns  to  earth, 
and  finds  in  its  own  home  a  miniature  of  all  God's 
universe,  and,  in  every  smallest  duty,  the  fulfilment 
of  a  divine  obligation,  then,  indeed,  it  seems  to  me 
that  there  may  be  experience  of  a  life  worth  living, 
— a  life  to  outward  appearance  the  same,  perhaps,  as 
that  of  many  another  man ;  but,  to  the  inward  senses 
of  one  whose  affections  have  been  set  on  things 
above 1  and  not  on  things  of  the  earth,  a  life  that  is 
hid  2  with  Christ  in  God, — a  life  in  which  old  things  3 
have  passed  away  and  all  things  have  become  new; 
and,  in  the  fulness  of  the  enthusiasm  that  has  dedi- 
cated self  and  all  its  possessions  to  that  higher  influ- 
ence that  we  call  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  soul  may  per- 
ceive at  last  that  God  indeed  can  be,  and  is,  in  every 
thing.  Thus,  he  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least, 
so  far  as  human  actions  can  do  so,  evinces  that  he  is 
the  child  of  God  and  a  joint  heir  4  with  Christ  of  that 
inheritance  which  is  the  greatest  possible. 

1  Col.  3:2.  -  Col.  3:3.  32  Cor.  5:17.  4  Rom.  8:37. 


XV 

THE    EFFECTIVENESS     OF    UNCONSCIOUS    AND 
PRIVATE  INFLUENCE 

"Where  is  the  Lord   God  of  Elijah?"— 2  Kings  2  :  14. 

This  was  a  question  asked  by  Elisha,  one  of  the 
younger  prophets  of  Israel,  apparently  connected 
with  the  Israelitish  School  of  Prophets  at  Gilgal. 
Only  a  short  time  before,  he  had  come  from  that 
place  with  Elijah,  the  most  famous  prophet  of  the 
Kingdom;  and,  altho  Elijah  three  times  had  turned 
to  him,  saying,  "Tarry  here,  I  pray  thee,"  Elisha, 
enthusiastic  in  his  attachment  to  his  Master,  or  in- 
fluenced by  some  premonition,  had  replied,  "As  the 
Lord  liveth  and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  I  will  not  leave 
thee."  So  they  had  journeyed  on  together.  "When 
they  had  come  to  the  Jordan,  Elijah,  according  to 
the  story — the  beautiful  moral  of  which  would 
alone  justify  its  use  in  the  literature  of  any  nation 
— smiting  the  waters  with  his  mantle,  had  caused 
them  to  divide  hither  and  thither,  so  that  the  two 
went  over  on  dry  ground.  A  little  further  on,  Elijah 
had  said  to  Elisha,  "Ask  what  I  shall  do  for  thee, 
before  I  shall  be  taken  away";  and  Elisha  had  an- 
swered, "I  pray  thee,  let  a  double  portion  of  thy 

230 


UNCONSCIOUS   AND   PRIVATE   INFLUENCE  231 

spirit  be  upon  me";  that  is,  not  double  as  much  as 
Elijah  himself  had,  but  double  as  much  as  others 
following  Elijah  should  have.  According  to  the  Jew- 
ish laws,  a  double  portion  of  an  equal  distribution 
of  the  father's  goods  among  all  the  family  fell  to 
the  eldest  son,1  the  heir,  the  successor  to  the  family 
titles.    So  Elisha  asked  that  he  might  become  the 
successor  of  Elijah  as  the  leader  of  the  prophets  of 
his  country:     "I  pray  thee,  let  a  double  portion 
of  thy  spirit  be  upon  me. ' '    And  Elijah  said, ' '  Thou 
hast  asked  a  hard  thing,  nevertheless,  if  thou  see 
me,  when  I  am  taken  from  thee,  it  shall  be  so  with 
thee."    "Then  it  came  to  pass,"  to  quote  from  the 
story  again,  that,  "as  they  still  went  on  and  talked, 
behold  there  appeared  a  chariot  of  fire,  and  horses 
of  fire,  and  parted  them  both  asunder.    And  Elijah 
went  up  by  a  whirlwind  into  heaven ;  and  Elisha  saw 
it,  and  he  cried,  'My  father,  my  father,  the  chariot 
of  Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof!'  "    After  that, 
Elisha  took  up  the  mantle  of  Elijah  that  fell  from 
him,  and  went  back,  and  stood  by  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan.    And  with  the  mantle  of  Elijah,  he  smote 
the  waters  as  Elijah  had  done  before  him,  and  said, 
"Where  is  the  Lord  God  of  Elijah!"    And  when 
he  also  had  smitten  the  waters,  they  again  parted, 
hither  and  thither,  and  Elisha  went  over. 

Consciously,  Elisha  may  have  asked  this  question 
for  the  first  time  now;  but  how  many  times  before 
do  you  suppose  that  he  had  asked  it  unconsciously?; 
asked  it,  perhaps,  as,  with  admiration,  he  had  heard 

1  Deut.  21  :  17. 


232      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

of  the  bravery  with  which  the  prophet  Elijah  had 
confronted 1  the  profligate  and  haughty  king  of  the 
country,  Ahab;  asked  it,  as  he  had  trembled  at  the 
tale  of  the  fate  of  the  four  hundred  and  fifty1 
prophets  of  Baal,  slain  for  their  opposition  to 
Jehovah ;  asked  it,  as,  with  reverence,  he  had  listened 
to  his  Master  at  the  School  of  Prophets  at  Gilgal ; 
asked  it  as  he  had  followed  that  Master,  with  only 
a  vague  sense  of  what  was  to  come,  across  the  Jor- 
dan and  onward  toward  the  place  where  he  had  been 
blest  with  a  last  glimpse  of  his  form  ascending 
through  the  skies.  Where  is  the  Lord  God  of  Elijah? 
— had  not  to  discover  this  become  the  foremost  mo- 
tive in  all  his  thinking!  Because  Elijah  was  great 
and  good,  had  he  not  inferred  that  therefore  the 
God  whom  he  represented  was  great  and  good"? 
Through  the  works  and  ways  of  Elijah  had  he  not 
been  led  to  seek  that  he  might  find  the  God  who  had 
been  represented  through  them?  And  now,  when 
he  had  reached  the  first  place  in  the  pathway  of 
life  where  he  needed  a  manifestation  of  the  power 
of  this  God,  was  it  wonderful  that  he  should  have 
uttered  consciously  that  which,  tho  unconsciously 
perhaps,  had  become  the  fundamental  question  of 
his  life— "where  is  the  Lord  God  of  Elijah?" 

And  he,  friends,  is  not  the  only  person  who  has 
asked  such  a  question,  nor  is  Elijah  the  only  man 
of  God  in  connection  with  whom  it  has  been  asked. 
Everywhere  it  is  the  individual  nearest  us  that  con- 
veys to  us  our  impression  of  the  person,  human  or 

1 1  Kings  18  :  1-40. 


UNCONSCIOUS   AND   PRIVATE   INFLUENCE  233 

divine,  with  whom  he  is  associated,  and  of  whom  he 
stands  the  representative.  Poor  human  beings,  at 
our  noblest,  weak  and  ignorant,  we  have  no  power 
with  which  to  resist  the  effects  of  our  surroundings, 
no  eye  with  which  to  look  beyond  our  sphere.  At 
best,  we  are  the  creatures  of  circumstance,  weak  and 
pliant  and  shaped  according  to  the  mold  in  which 
we  fall.  We  think,  perhaps,  that  we  believe  in  pu- 
rity and  love.  We  do  so  only  in  so  far  as  our  experi- 
ence has  clasped  the  hand  and  heard  the  voice  of 
purity  and  loveliness.  The  fraudulent  man's  com- 
panion at  our  side,  with  no  worse  a  soul  than  ours, 
may  think  that  all  humanity  are  fraudulent.  The 
miser's  may  believe  that  all  are  miserly. 

And  what  the  man  with  whom  we  meet  is  to  the 
character  of  individuals,  that  is  he,  too,  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  nation  to  which  he  belongs.  In  my 
youth  the  few  Italians  of  whom  I  had  chanced  to 
hear  were  operatic  singers,  the  few  Frenchmen, 
dancing  teachers.  Forthwith,  all  of  Italy,  to  my 
imagination,  was  like  a  grove  at  morning  vocal  with 
the  trills  of  music,  and  all  of  France  trembled  to 
the  tread  of  dancers.  To-day,  to  the  minds  of  some 
of  us,  because  a  few  English  writers  with  whom 
we  are  acquainted  oppose  Republicanism,  and  a  few 
German  poets  and  philosophers  applaud  it,  the  Eng- 
lish character,  notwithstanding  its  Brights  and  Rus- 
kins,  seems  wedded  to  aristocracy;  and  the  German 
character,  notwithstanding  its  Williams  and  Bis- 
marks,  to  liberalism.  Far  away,  upon  the  western 
shores  of  the  Pacific,  our  Anglo-Saxon  missionaries 


234       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

are  laboring  hard  to  inculcate  the  principles  and  to 
develop  the  practises  of  the  Christ.  But  much  of 
their  labor  is  ineffective  because,  nearer  to  the  peo- 
j)le  whom  they  address  than  the  missionary,  and 
more  constantly  their  companion,  stand  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  sailor  and  trader,  by  word  and  deed  profan- 
ing the  name  and  libeling  the  character  of  that  form 
of  civilization  which  men  term  Christian. 

For,  as  I  have  intimated,  this  law  of  representa- 
tion extends  beyond  that  of  personal  and  national 
to  religious  character.  Christianity  is  to  all  of  us 
what  the  majority  of  christians  with  whom  we  come 
in  contact  represent  it  to  be.  Examine  your  own 
experience,  and  tell  me  if  it  be  not  so.  You  had  a 
religious  father  and  mother  once,  perhaps.  In  the 
midst  of  trouble  and  loss,  do  you  never  recall  how 
their  strong  faith  enabled  them  to  withstand  and 
survive  like  experiences?  You  had  some  religious 
friend  in  time  past,  it  may  be.  In  the  presence  of 
trial  or  temptation,  do  you  never  recall  how  his  de- 
voted love  burned  with  so  bright  a  flame  as  to  con- 
sume the  one  and  to  make  dim  the  allurements  of 
the  other?  Amidst  the  memories  of  loving  homes 
and  the  associations  of  upright  companionship,  do 
you  never  cry  in  your  desire  for  kindness  and  in- 
tegrity: "Where  is  the  Lord  God  of  the  man  of 
God?" 

I  have  said  that  a  religious  man  represents  to 
the  world  the  character  of  his  religion.  If  so,  he 
represents,  as  well,  that  which  our  text  assumes,  the 
God  who  is  the  source  of  his  religion.    And  certainly 


UNCONSCIOUS   AND   PRIVATE   INFLUENCE  235 

this  view  accords  with  fact  as  well  as  with  scripture ; 
— with  fact,  because  among  all  nations,  the  ideal  of 
God  possessed  by  the  common  people  never  has  ex- 
ceeded the  perfection  which  they  have  had  reason 
to  infer  in  the  Deity,  inasmuch  as  they  have  wit- 
nessed something  similar  in  the  man  made  in  his 
image?  What  were  the  characteristics  of  the  war- 
riors, philosophers  or  poets  who,  as  representatives 
of  manhood,  ranked  highest  among  the  Greeks? 
Find  that  out,  then  study  Greek  mythology,  and 
you  will  find  the  same  characteristics  assigned  to 
their  gods.  The  ideal  sources  of  power  among  the 
ancient  Romans  were  the  commanders,  who  enforced 
their  wills  with  the  lances  of  the  soldier  and  the 
chains  of  the  slave.  The  deities  whom  they  wor- 
shiped had  the  same  characteristics.  The  ideal  sov- 
ereigns among  the  ancient  Germans  slew  their 
neighbors  brutally,  then  pledged  each  other's  health 
in  liquor,  drunk  from  their  enemies'  skulls.  This, 
too,  was  the  employment  of  their  gods. 

And  the  view  that  has  been  presented  accords,  as 
well,  with  scripture.  Who,  to  the  ancient  Jews,  was 
Jehovah  himself? — who,  but  the  God  of  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  of  Moses  and  David,  as  well  as  the 
Lord  God,  too,  of  Elijah?  And,  friends,  who  to  us, 
to-day,  in  this  Christian  dispensation,  is  this  same 
Sovereign  but  the  God  and  father  of  our  Lord,  Jesus 
Christ?  How  do  we  know  of  the.  divine  Spirit 
bending  attentively  to  hear  and  answer  and  bless, 
when  we  feel  moved  to  confess  our  sins  and  plead 
for  pardon,  and  pledge  ourselves  to  renewed  devo- 


236      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

tion,  except  as  our  inspired  Master,  that  greater 
prophet,  in  his  life  of  self-denial  and  in  his  death 
of  sacrifice,  has  represented  to  us  the  love  and  mercy 
of  the  deity?  Not  only  then  to  the  mourning  man 
who  bore  that  mantle  to  the  Jordan,  but  to  every  one 
of  us  when  we  have  need  to  invoke  the  aid  of  him  in 
whom  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  the 
question  comes,  in  view  of  either  Christianity  or  the 
Christ  who  represents  the  unseen  attributes  of  him 
who  ever  must  be  veiled  from  mortal  vision,  where 
is  the  Lord  God  of  the  man  of  God?  This  was  the 
first  thought  of  Elisha  now;  and  probably  through- 
out his  whole  life,  blest  with  prophetic  influence 
and  incident  as  marvelous  as  those  that  rendered 
so  remarkable  the  career  of  his  predecessor,  this 
thought  was  his  constant  inspiration. 

And  notice,  friends,  how  of  all  this  profound  and 
continued  effect  of  his  deeds  and  character  upon 
his  pupil,  Elijah  himself,  during  his  lifetime,  must 
have  been  unaware;  and  let  us  derive  from  it  a  les- 
son concerning  unconscious  influence.  During  his 
whole  ministry  Elijah  had  battled  against  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  sovereigns  of  Israel  and  the  polluting 
practises  of  the  worshippers  of  Baal.  But  at  his 
death  a  corrupt  King  still  sat  upon  the  throne  of 
Israel,;  and  tho  seven  thousand  men  had  not  bowed 
their  knees  to  Baal,1  they  were  few  in  comparison 
with  the  tens  of  thousands  in  the  land  who  had. 
Despite  all  his  labors,  had  the  vision  of  Elijah  re- 
garded only  the  good  that  he  was  conscious  of  hav- 

1 1  Kings  19  :  18. 


UNCONSCIOUS  AND   PRIVATE   INFLUENCE  237 

ing  achieved,  lie  would  have  left  the  world  a  disap- 
pointed and  despondent  man.  And  yet,  for  all  that, 
the  scepter  of  righteousness  that  he  had  swayed 
had  not  departed  from  Israel;  and  Israel  was  the 
better  that  it  had  passed  through  his  brave  grasp. 
He  may  have  valued  his  discarded  life  as  little  as 
that  mantle  left  behind  him,  faded  by  the  storms 
and  tattered  by  the  winds,  the  sole  companion  of  so 
many  dangerous  flights  and  lonely  slumbers.  "What 
of  that?  Elisha  caught  the  mantle.  He  prized  it 
like  a  robe  that  he  might  have  wrested  from  an 
angel ;  and  he  caught  with  it  the  spirit  of  Elijah  too, 
and  went  back  to  his  countrymen  invested  as  the 
prince  of  all  her  prophets.  And  so  Elijah's  mission 
was  perfected,  when  his  worldly  eyes  could  recog- 
nize it  not.  The  line  of  prophets,  the  succession  of 
the  preachers  of  the  truth,  remained  unbroken,  not 
because  the  power  of  wicked  kings  and  priests  had 
been  wholly  destroyed,  as,  in  his  younger  years,  he 
had  prayed  and  hoped  might  be  the  case; — no,  but 
because  the  prophets  in  the  School  of  Gilgal  had 
beheld  that  earnest  face  and  reverent  eye  on  which 
he  never  had  bestowed  a  thought;  because  Elisha 
now  held  in  his  hand  that  outer  garment  that  had 
been  thrown  away.  And  you  and  me,  friends,  is 
there  not  a  lesson  here  for  us !  We  all  are  preachers 
in  our  little  way;  and  many  of  us  talk  and  talk  and 
talk,  and  often  not  an  echo  comes  back  to  assure 
our  souls  that  any  strength  even  of  empty  sound 
has  left  them.  Notwithstanding  this,  who  knows? — 
the  wife's  form  bent  in  silent  prayer,  the  husband's 


238       SUGGESTIONS   FOB    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

anxious  face,  the  mother's  kiss,  the  comrade's  blush 
— God  knows — Ave  yet  may  have  done  some  little 
good  unconsciously.  We  all  of  us  are  teachers  in 
our  little  way;  and,  like  Elijah,  coming  from  the 
School  of  Gilgal,  only  one — perhaps  not  even  one — 
of  those  that  we  would  influence  may  follow  in  the 
course  where  we  would  lead.  What  then? — Perhaps 
some  time  the  careworn  face  that  seems  just  ready 
for  the  other  world,  the  old  robe  that  we  would  have 
thrown  aside  long  ago  could  we  have  had  our  own 
way,  may  yet  stir  a  recollection  or  inspire  a  prayer 
that  shall  do  something. 

And  this  influence  thus  exerted  by  Elijah  may 
teach  us  not  alone  a  lesson  concerning  unconscious 
influence,  but  also  a  lesson  concerning  private  in- 
fluence. Apparently  no  continued  success  had  at- 
tended the  appearance  of  the  prophet  at  the  Court 
of  the  Kings,  or  amid  the  multitudes  who  witnessed 
the  destruction  of  the  priests  of  Baal.  Everything 
of  this  sort  in  his  life  that  had  seemed  to  promise 
well,  even  tho  it  may  have  ended  with  a  triumph  for 
Jehovah,  had  been  followed  by  his  own  proscription, 
flight  and  persecution.  He  knew  of  the  seven  thou- 
sand men  who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  not 
because  he  himself  had  come  in  contact  with  them, 
crowding  anxious  to  accord  him  grateful  thanks  for 
his  endeavors  to  uphold  the  truth ;  he  knew  of  these 
alone  when,  weary  and  downhearted  in  the  desert, 
that  Sovereign  Source  of  life  which  was  not  in  the 
wind  or  the  earthquake  or  the  fire,  but  in  the  still 
small  voice,    had  revealed  it  to  him  for  his  consola- 


UNCONSCIOUS   AND   PRIVATE   INFLUENCE  239 

tion  !  and  encouragement.  And  now,  when  passing 
over  Jordan,  it  was  less  the  wisdom,  doubtless  con- 
centrated in  liis  parting  words  to  all  the  assembled 
prophets  of  the  School  of  Gilgal ;  less  this  that  had 
lingered  with  Elisha,  than  the  vision  of  the  mantle 
moved  to  separate  the  waters,  where  these  two  were 
journeying. 

And  if  such  things  were  true  of  him,  friends,  were 
similar  things  not  true  of  Jesus  also!  Where  was 
his  greatest  triumph? — when  he  rode  on  toward 
Jerusalem,  amidst  the  swaying  palms  and  plaudits 
of  the  thousands  crying,  "Hosannah  to  the  Son  of 
David?"2 — when  he  spake  as  one  who  had  author- 
ity,3 confuting  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  dared 
not 4  lay  hold  on  him  because  they  feared  the  peo- 
ple? Not  so ;  but  when  he  was  alone  with  the  twelve 
in  the  upper  chamber,5  when  he  was  with  the  three 
in  the  garden,0  when  he  went  alone  7  to  crucifixion, 
when  he  hung,  a  silent,  hooted  form,8  upon  the  cross. 

And  so  with  you  and  me,  friends, — what  if,  at  some 
time,  like  to  Elijah,  we  could  have  access  to  the  court 
circles  of  all  wealth  and  power?  What  if  the  multi- 
tude should  crowd  to  welcome  us,  and  half  the  world 
stand  wondering  at  the  triumph  of  our  undertaking? 
After  all,  our  real  audience  might  be  far  off  from 
these,  amid  the  seven  thousand  still  unseen;  and 
who  might  have  been  affected  just  as  largely  without 
the  superficial  spectacle  of  multitudes  gathered  to 


1 1  Kings   19  :  11-18.            a  Mat.   21  :  7-9. 

*  .Mat.  7:  28;  29. 

4  Mark    12:12.                   5Luke    22:14. 

6  Mark    14  :  33. 

7  Mat.  26  :  56. 

*Mat.  27:  39-43. 

240       SUGGESTION S    FOB    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

satisfy  merely  our  vanity.  After  all,  our  most  en- 
during influence  may  lie  in  some  slight  gesture  of 
our  hand  as  we  walk  along  some  lonely  road  with 
only  one  companion. 

And  if  these  things  be  so,  if  the  profoundest  in- 
fluence of  our  lives  may  be  unconscious  and  private, 
what  manner  of  persons  ought  we  to  be?  We  see, 
in  the  first  place,  the  necessity,  each  in  his  own  in- 
dividual way  as  he  conceives  of  it,  of  entire  conse- 
cration to  that  which  is  highest  and  noblest.  If  not 
alone  our  words  but  also  our  deeds,  our  faces  and 
our  frames,  our  smiles  and  our  sighs,  our  gestures 
and  our  gaits,  our  manners  and  our  mantles,  be, 
unconsciously  to  ourselves,  the  representatives  of 
the  attributes  of  that  God  whom  we  profess  to  rev- 
erence, of  that  Christ  by  whose  name  we  call  our- 
selves, is  it  a  matter  of  little  moment  what  shall  be 
even  the  wording  of  our  compliment,  or  the  tone  of 
our  greeting?  No  half  way  religion,  friends,  merely 
for  Sundays  or  at  public  worship — nothing  but 
whole-hearted  service  during  all  the  week  days, 
during  all  our  play  as  well  as  work,  will  rescue 
us  from  an  unconscious  and  private  influence  for 
evil. 

Then,  again,  in  the  second  place,  we  see  the  neces- 
sity of  early  consecration.  All  methods  that  are 
spiritual  are  apt  to  influence  the  inner  motives  first ; 
the  outer  actions  afterwards.  As  a  rule,  it  takes 
time,  and  a  long  time  often,  for  the  love  within  the 
soul  to  mold  the  external  bearing  of  the  man  into 
full  conformity  with  itself.     Better  begin  early  in 


UNCONSCIOUS   AND   PRIVATE   INFLUENCE  241 

life,  then,  before  habits  become  fixed,  and  when  it 
is  easy  to  form  new  ones. 

Once  more,  in  the  third  place,  we  see  the  necessity 
of  continual  reconsecration ;  of  consecration  keeping- 
pace  through  all  our  lives  with  the  increase  of  our 
knowledge  and  the  broadening  of  our  interests.  We 
are  Christians  when  we  begin  to  follow  the  Christ, 
no  matter  with  how  faltering  faith,  how  feeble  love, 
how  tottering  footsteps.  But,  remember,  not  until 
we  reach  the  standard  of  our  Lord  himself,  "till 
we  all  come  1  in  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  unto  a  perfect  man, 
unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of 
Christ,"  shall  our  unconscious  and  private  influence 
be  all  that  it  should  be.  Not  until  then  shall  we 
cease,  in  some  material  matters,  to  misrepresent  the 
character  of  the  Christian,  and  need  to  plead  the 
mercy  of  God  because  we  mock  him  with  our  im- 
perfect service.  Remember,  that,  aside  from  what 
can  be  gathered  from  sources  far  less  influential, 
our  friends  and  the  world  about  us  can  never  reach 
a  higher  standard  of  life  than  we  and  our  friends 
and  the  world  about  us  set  for  one  another. 

Let  us  find  fault  with  others  if  we  must,  then, 
friends ;  but  first  let  us  be  certain  that  we  ought  not 
to  find  fault  with  ourselves  for  doing  all  that  we 
can  to  place  or  to  keep  others  where  they  are.  The 
surest  way  in  which  to  reason  our  neighbors  into  a 
right  course  of  action  is  by  setting  for  them  an  ex- 
ample of  doing  and   being  right.     In  every  deed, 

1  Eph.  4  :  13. 


242      SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

word,  movement  of  our  lives,  our  neighbor,  friend, 
consort,  child,  has  his  eyes  upon  us.  If  he  ever  shall 
be  saved  for  this  world  or  for  the  next,  it  may  be 
because  he  shall  take  up  some  method  or  mantle, 
some  external,  little  valued,  discarded  covering  of 
some  soul  about  him,  and,  in  imitation,  smite  the 
waters  that  obstruct  a  path  to  usefulness  and  duty, 
questioning  in  his  soul,  like  the  prophet  in  our  text : 
"Where  is  the  Lord  God  of  the  man  of  God?" 


XVI 

A  KIND  HEART,  THE  CONDITION  OF  A  COURAGE- 
OUS LIFE 

"Then  Paul  answered,  'What  mean  ye  to  weep  and  to  break  mine 
heart?  for  I  am  ready  not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at  Jeru- 
salem for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.'  " — Acts  21  :  13. 

Genuine  susceptibility  is  the  condition  of  all  true 
courage.  If  Paul,  in  answer  to  the  Christians  of 
Cesarea  who  besought  him  not  to  go  up  to  Jeru- 
salem, in  view  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  him 
there,  had  not  had  the  disposition  to  say,  ''What 
mean  ye  to  weep  and  to  break  mine  heart,"  he 
scarcely  could  have  had  the  resolution  to  add,  ''For 
I  am  ready  not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at 
Jerusalem  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

It  is  an  old  saying  that  barking  dogs  do  not  bite ; 
and  no  one  knows  much  of  the  world  who  is  not 
aware  that  an  essentially  coarse  and  brutal  char- 
acter, a  braggart  boastful  chiefly  of  his  indepen- 
dence of  the  wishes  or  sympathy  of  others,  is  in- 
capacitated by  his  very  nature  for  deeds  involving 
the  grandest  heroism.  A  human,  like  an  ocean  ves- 
sel, has  not  balance  to  carry  the  heaviest  sail  and 
to  fly  the  highest  standard,  unless  that  which  is  be- 
neath the   surface,  hidden  from  sight,  has  corre- 

243 


244       SUGGESTIONS   FOB    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

sponding  depth.  The  first  breath  of  genuine  oppo- 
sition is  apt  to  topple  over  all  the  vaunted  valor 
of  a  man  without  a  heart.  One  who  does  not  feel 
for  others,  cannot  fight  for  them ;  who  does  not  think 
for  others  cannot  lead  them;  who  does  not  live  for 
others,  cannot,  except  to  himself  alone,  appear  to 
have  a  life  that  is  worth  the  living.  So  true  is  this, 
that  it  will  be  found,  I  think,  upon  examination,  that 
the  majority  of  men  who  have  exhibited  great 
powers  in  their  maturity,  have  been  remarkable  in 
youth  largely  for  that  sensitiveness  which  is  always 
an  indication  of  a  susceptible  temperament.  They 
have  often  been  shrinking  in  their  dispositions,  and 
quick  to  take  offense.  They  frequently  have  become 
more  or  less  suspicious  of  others,  and  have  been 
given  to  loneliness  and  introspection,  if  not,  as  in  the 
case  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  to  seasons  of  morbidness 
and  misanthropy.  At  the  same  time,  unfortunate 
as  such  developments  are  in  themselves,  the  very 
cause  of  them  has  often  proved  their  cure.  That 
delicacy  of  organization  that  makes  one's  nature 
close  up  like  the  leaves  of  a  sensitive  plant  at  the 
harsh  touch  of  a  hostile,  or  of  merely  an  unappre- 
ciative  phrase  or  action,  prepares  him  to  consider 
carefully  the  tendency  of  the  words  and  deeds  with 
which  he  himself  meets  others ; — to  study  faithfully 
the  human  nature  everywhere  about  him,  so  that  he 
may  not,  on  his  part,  be  a  source  of  the  same  painful 
sense  of  a  lack  of  sympathy  that  he  himself  has 
so  often  experienced.  But  to  study  human  nature 
and  to  control  one's  action  so  as  to  appeal  to  it, — 


KINDNESS   AND   COURAGE  245 

what  is  this  but  to  think  and  to  live  for  others? 
And,  so  far  as  one's  aim  in  doing  this  is  noble,  what 
is  this  but  to  be  in  the  highest  sense  as  wise  as  he 
is  useful — in  short,  to  possess  those  qualities 
which,  when  the  emergency  arises,  shall  unfold 
into  the  most  discriminating  and  disinterested 
heroism? 

The  same  truth  with  reference  to  the  fundamental 
necessity  of  susceptibility  is  shown,  too,  in  the  fact 
that,  where  it  seems  to  be  lacking  by  nature,  it  is 
only  after  it  has  been  aroused  through  some  exter- 
nal agency  that  the  person  in  whom  it  manifests 
itself  becomes  capable  of  the  most  exalted  modes 
of  life.  When  the  young  man,  whose  heedless  in- 
difference or  inconsiderate  selfishness  has  caused 
the  community  generally  to  regard  him  as  a  well- 
nigh  worthless  encumbrance  upon  society,  is  once 
brought  into  relations  where  there  are  others — mem- 
bers of  his  own  family,  perhaps,  a  widowed  mother, 
a  fatherless  sister,  a  wife  or  children — to  support, 
or  educate,  or  influence  by  precept  or  example, — 
then  it  is  marvelous,  at  times,  to  note  the  change 
that  comes  over  him,  to  see  how  gentle  and  con- 
siderate and  self-abnegating  his  new  responsibilities 
have  made  him.  Or  take  one  in  the  political  world 
who,  when  out  of  office,  has  been,  in  the  worst  sense, 
a  radical,  always  ready  to  denounce  and  criticize 
with  harsh  and  unrelenting  severity  every  measure 
of  the  opposition ;  who  has  never  seemed  to  be  able 
to  appreciate  an  opponent's  position,  never  had  a 
kind  word  to  say  even  of  an  opponent's  intention; — 


240       SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

take  him  and  place  him  in  authority,  let  him  feel 
what  it  is  to  be  denounced  and  criticized,  let  him 
experience  something  of  the  practical  difficulty  of 
appeasing  all  the  factions  of  a  party,  of  conciliating 
rivals  and  of  compromising  plans,  and  in  the  end 
of  proposing  measures  that  shall  satisfy  a  reason- 
able proportion  of  the  people; — and  by  and  by  most 
likely  you  will  find  him  as  appreciative,  as  consid- 
erate and  as  patient  as  the  most  conservative.  And 
I  think  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that  only  after 
the  change  has  taken  place  in  him  will  he  be  pre- 
pared to  do  for  his  country  that  which  the  radicals, 
Lincoln,  Chase  and  Seward,  did  for  our  own  country 
at  the  time  of  our  Civil  War. 

I  have  used  these  illustrations  in  order  to  remind 
you  of  that  of  which  we  all  need  to  be  reminded  so 
frequently,  namely,  that  there  is  no  departure  from 
universal  principles  in  the  characteristics  that,  ac- 
cording to  Christianity,  are  needed  in  order  to  pro- 
duce the  noblest  specimens  of  manhood.  The  Chris- 
tian system  is  based  upon  the  theory  of  human  sus- 
ceptibility as  the  foundation  of  all  worthy  endeavor ; 
and  because  it  is  so  based,  its  appeals  are  addrest 
primarily  to  the  heart.  A  Christian,  whatever  may 
be  his  preliminary  experience,  is  a  man  who  has  had 
spiritual  truth — i.  e.,  the  truth  concerning  God — so 
presented  to  him  that,  at  length,  he  has  come  to  be 
in  love  with  the  source  of  that  truth — i.  e.,  with 
God;  or,  rather,  as  he  is  termed  a  Christian,  one 
might  say  in  love  with  the  character  of  God  as  mani- 
fested in  the  Christ.    As  the  Apostle  John  expresses 


KINDNESS   AND    COURAGE  247 

it,  "every  one1  that  loveth  is  born  of  God";  and 
"every  one  that  loveth  him  that  begat,  loveth2 
him  also, ' '  referring  to  the  Christ,  '  *  that  is  begotten 
of  him."  The  Christian  life  introduces  a  man  into 
family  relations  not  only  with  God,  but  with  all  those 
who  are  of  the  household  of  God.  And  the  same 
effect  that  the  family  relations  and  responsibilities 
of  earth  may  have  upon  the  heedlessness  and  incon- 
siderateness  of  youth,  the  realization  of  these  higher 
relations  and  responsibilities  may  have  upon  the  in- 
difference and  selfishness  of  him  who  has  been 
merely  of  the  world.  Besides  this,  the  Christian 
life  introduces  a  man  into  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and 
gives  him  authority  to  act  not  only  as  a  citizen  but 
as  a  representative  on  earth  of  that  Kingdom.  And 
this,  again,  has  a  tendency  to  impart  to  him  all  those 
patriotic  qualities,  culminating  at  times  in  heroic 
courage,  which  are  apt  to  be  developed  by  official 
position  under  a  human  government. 

These  are  the  thoughts  that  seem  first  suggested 
in  connection  with  the  passage  chosen  for  my  text. 
While  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem  and  tarrying  for  a 
few  days  in  Cesarea,  we  are  told  that  "there  came 
down  from  Judea  a  certain  prophet  named  Agabus. 
And  when  he  had  come,  he  took  Paul's  girdle  and 
bound  his  own  hands  and  feet  and  said :  '  Thus  saith 
the  Holy  Ghost,  So  shall  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem  bind 
the  man  that  owneth  this  girdle,  and  shall  deliver 
him  into  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles.'  "  And  when, 
adds  the  writer  of  the  book,  who  was  accompanying 

1 1  Jno.  4:7.  2 1  Jno.  5  :  1. 


248       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

Paul,  we  heard  these  things,  both  we  and  they  of 
the  place  besought  him  not  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem. 
Then  Paul  answered,  "What  mean  ye  to  weep  and 
to  break  mine  heart?"  Here  we  have  susceptibility 
— a  susceptibility  remarkable — is  it  not? — in  the 
character  of  one  who,  not  many  years  before  this, 
had  been  a  hard,  unrelenting  persecutor?  His  sym- 
pathizing with  the  purposes  of  the  Great  Master 
had  caused  him  to  become  appreciative  of  all  human 
conditions  and  tender  to  their  influence: — "What 
mean  ye  to  weep  and  to  break  mine  heart?"  But 
this  was  not  all.  His  susceptibility  was  so  great 
that  it  could  not  be  content  to  regard  merely  the 
temporary  tears  of  those  immediately  surrounding 
him.  It  embraced  a  consideration  of  the  perma- 
nent interests  both  of  them  and  of  all  other  Chris- 
tians, as  well  as  of  the  Master,  of  whom  all  were 
followers.  "For  I  am  ready,"  he  added,  "not  to 
be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die,  at  Jerusalem  for  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  And  when  he  would  not 
be  persuaded,  we  ceased,  saying,  "The  will  of  God 
be  done," — an  expression  which,  I  think,  evinces 
very  clearly  that  which  always  is  the  legitimate 
effect  upon  others  of  a  combination  of  such  qualities 
as  he  had  manifested. 

As  already  intimated,  these  developments  in  the 
character  of  the  Apostle  are  not  isolated  examples 
of  the  influence  of  the  Christian  system.  Every 
man  whose  heart  has  really  been  given  to  the  Mas- 
ter manifests  them  in  a  greater  or  less  degree. 
Every  nation  or  country  that  has  been  blest  by  the 


KINDNESS   AND   COURAGE  249 

presence  of  Christian  churches  exhibits  them.  Chris- 
tianity is  a  life  of  love,  and,  wherever  it  is  found, 
there  life  will  grow  more  loving.  Like  the  stream 
that  rises  from  its  source  and  pours  down  through 
the  valley,  making  fertile  many  a  plain  and  tracked 
throughout  its  course  by  the  freshness  and  the  ver- 
dure, by  the  flowering  and  the  fruitage  of  all  the 
surrounding  earth,  so  Christianity  within  the  soul 
is  a  well  of  water  springing  up  to  everlasting  life, 
purifying  one's  emotions  of  base  suggestions,  and 
one's  thoughts  of  selfish  bias,  and  flowing  forth 
through  word  and  deed  to  exert  a  genializing  in- 
fluence on  those  by  whom  he  is  surrounded ;  tracked 
throughout  its  course  by  increasing  indications  of 
refinement  and  benevolence,  of  civilization  and  en- 
franchizement,  by  the  home  and  the  asylum,  by  the 
school  and  the  hall  of  legislation.  And  not  only  so, 
but  Christianity  is,  as  well,  a  life  of  duty,  of  duty 
capable  of  achievements  high  beyond  the  conception 
of  a  soul  that  has  not  in  itself  a  corresponding 
depth  of  love.  Like  the  sun  that,  with  a  glow  of 
promise  in  the  east,  rises  in  the  morning,  burning 
through  the  mists  and  brightening  every  shade,  till 
all  the  thickest  underbrush  becomes  illumined,  and 
the  flower  in  the  deepest  valley  radiant  to  reflect  its 
own  appropriate  coloring;  so  the  Christian  sense  of 
obligation  coming  to  consciousness  with  the  first 
faint  halo  that  suggests  the  dawning  of  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness,  moves  outward  through  Avords  and 
deeds,  enlightening  ignorance  and  making  error 
transparent,    till    every    subtlest   sophistry   of   the 


250       SUGGESTIONS    FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

wrong  becomes  as  visible  as  downright  falsehood, 
and  the  slightest  beauty  of  the  right  in  the  most 
hidden  places  invites  to  admiration  of  the  glory  of 
the  Christ-like  that  it  manifests  in  miniature.  It 
does  not  stop  with  homes,  asylums,  schools  and  halls 
of  legislation.  In  every  hour  of  life,  wherever  it 
may  find  a  homeless  wanderer  or  a  needy  sufferer, 
a  doubting  mind  or  a  despondent  spirit,  it  tells  the 
Christian  that  the  Lord  has  called  upon  him  not 
alone  for  corporate  reforms,  but  for  individual  self- 
denial  that  never  can  accomplish  all  that  it  should 
until  the  world  is  perfect;  and,  until  then,  there  is 
no  microscopic  test  of  obligation  that  is  minute 
enough  to  satisfy  the  soul  endeavoring  to  observe 
the  extent  of  the  injunction,  "Bear1  ye  one  an- 
other's burdens  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ." 

In  this  view  of  the  Christian  life  it  seems  to  me, 
in  the  first  place,  that  there  is  much  to  afford  us 
satisfaction,  notwithstanding  the  smallness  of  our 
own  achievements.  The  essence  of  religion  is  so 
simple, — nothing  more  than  love,  love  that  is  the 
result  of  the  confidence  or  faith  that  we  have  in 
God  on  account  of  what  he  has  shown  himself  to 
be  in  the  revelation  of  the  one  willing  to  suffer  and 
to  die  that  we  might  live,  and  be  blest  in  the  life 
that  we  live.  As  the  aj:>ostle  Paul  expresses  it,  "in 
Jesus  Christ  neither  circumcision 2  availeth  any- 
thing nor  uncircumcision;  but  faith  which  worketh 
by  love."  No  need  of  any  questioning  or  studying 
with  reference  to  any  theories  of  theology  or  of  cere- 

1  Gal.   6:2.  '  Gal.   5  :  6. 


KINDNESS   AND   COURAGE  251 

monial  rites!  No  absolute  need  of  this! — altho 
much  information  may  come  from  it.  The  only 
essential  question  is  with  reference  to  our  love. 
To  have  this,  to  love  God,  to  love  Christ,  to  love  our 
fellowmen  so  as  to  give  one's  self  to  them;  to  dedi- 
cate all  that  one  has  or  is  to  their  service, — this  is 
all  that  is  essential.  This  love  within  the  soul  is  all 
that  any  one  needs  in  addition  to  his  human  nature. 
The  good  seed  of  God  sown  in  the  soil  of  God's  pre- 
paring, it  must  spring  up.  It  is  itself  the  earnest  of 
the  leaf  and  flower  and  fruit  and  shelter  of  the  full 
grown  tree.  The  pure  fountain  of  God  in  God's 
own  place,  it  must  flow  forth  to  vivify  and  to  cheer, 
to  make  all  about  it  an  Eden  and  a  delight, — only 
love  that  a  child  can  feel  and  understand  and  ex- 
press. And,  yet,  an  element  so  mighty  that  God 
himself,  altho  it  is  the  very  essence  of  his  being, 
can  never  express  the  whole  of  it;  nay,  tho  infinite 
space  be  his  scroll,  the  stars  the  letters  through 
which  we  trace  his  handwriting,  and  eternity  the 
duration  of  his  labor. 

And  herein  while  I  find  a  certain  amount  of  sat- 
isfaction, notwithstanding  our  small  achievements, 
I  find  at  the  same  time  a  stimulus  to  the  greatest 
endeavor.  In  fact,  no  use  in  my  finding  it.  Love 
itself  is  its  own  stimulus.  You  who  have  tried  to 
live  in  accordance  with  its  promptings  know  this. 
You  know  that,  altho  it  is  a  consolation  to  feel  that 
love  is  enough,  this  fact  is  not  inconsistent  with 
the  stimulus  that  impells  you  constantly  to  make 
exertion  because  you  feel   that  love  can  never  do 


252       SUGGESTIONS   FOB  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

enough  for  that  on  which  its  affections  have  been 
centered.  You  know  that  the  peace  of  Christian 
consciousness  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  activity 
of  Christian  effort.  You  can  apprehend  how  God 
can  be  infinite  repose  at  the  center  of  the  universe 
while  all  things  about  him  are  eternally  revolving; 
and  this,  because  you  yourselves,  at  times,  when 
lifted  near  to  Him  through  the  love  that  you  experi- 
ence, feel  that  you  are  lifted  near  to  the  center  of 
all  things  where  is  rest,  and  yet,  influenced  by  which, 
all  is  movement.  You  know  that  Christian  love  but 
serves  your 

' '  mind  to  wake 
As  the  small  pebble  stira  the  peaceful  lake 
The  center  moved,  a  circle  straight  succeeds, 
Another  still,  and  still  another  speeds, 
Friend,  parent,  neighbour  first  it  will  embrace, 
His  country  next,  and  next  all  human  race. ' ' ' 

You  feel  that  your  soul  is  impelled  to  press  on 
from  one  sphere  of  obligation  to  another,  each  one 
like  the  ripples  of  the  lake  becoming  more  and  more 
minute ;  yet  each  embracing  more  and  more  of  that 
which  is  infinite  and  eternal.  This  must  be— it  is 
not  possible  that  it  should  not  be— the  case,  if  you 
have  indeed  been  "strengthened 2  with  might  by  His 
spirit  in  the  inner  man";  if  you  constantly  strive 
"that  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith  that 
ye,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  may  be  able 
to  comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth 
and  length  and  depth  and  height  and  to  know  the 

dope's  Essay  on  Man,  IV.  2  ^ph.  3  :  16-19. 


KINDNESS   AND    COURAGE  253 

love  of   Christ  which   passeth  knowledge,   that  ye 
might  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God." 

We  have  all  read  of  instances,  perhaps  we  have 
seen  them,  in  which  a  mother,  with  but  little  strength 
of  mind  or  of  body,  has  been  suddenly  aroused  to 
thought  and  action  upon  seeing  the  child  that  she 
loves  floating  off  upon  a  cake  of  ice  in  a  flooded 
river,  or  disappearing  amid  the  smoke  of  a  burning 
building.  Then  we  have  heard  of  the  activity  that 
suddenly  has  evinced  itself  in  her  intellect,  of  the 
quickness  of  intuition,  of  the  acuteness  of  memory, 
of  the  sagacity  of  forethought,  of  the  ingenuity  of 
invention;  and,  then,  of  the  marvelous  self-sacrifice 
and  superhuman  strength  that  she  has  manifested 
in  the  execution  of  her  plans, — all  this  high  achieve- 
ment of  mind  and  body  the  result  of  love!  Now 
make  that  love  a  constant  possession,  and  the  emer- 
gency a  constant  condition — for  the  cause  of  right 
is  always  in  danger — and  you  begin  to  realize  what 
the  Christian  life  can  do  for  manhood.  It  cultivates 
susceptibility;  yes.  But  it  does  not  stop  with  this. 
It  is  not  a  life  for  women  and  children  alone,  as 
some  men  seem  to  think.  It  will  take  more  than  a 
mere  man  to  realize  in  his  own  experience  all  that  it 
can  do  for  the  intellect  and  the  will.  There  is  no 
philosophy  that  is  deep  enough  for  it.  There  is  no 
courage  that  is  bold  enough.  There  is  no  resolution 
that  is  firm  enough.  It  may  say  what  mean  ye  to 
weep  and  to  break  mine  heart?— but  it  can  also  say, 
"for  I  am  ready  not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to 
die  at  Jerusalem  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 


254       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

Here  are  the  two  extremes,  love  and  duty.  Here 
is  full  orbed  manhood.  If  one  would  have  that  which 
shall  make  him  more  than  weak;  if  he  would  have 
that  which  shall  make  him  more  than  strong;  if 
those  of  society  would  have  that  in  which  to  con- 
fide in  the  woe  demanding  sympathy;  if  those  of 
the  state  would  have  that  on  which  to  rely  in  the 
danger  demanding  heroism,  let  them  look  to  Chris- 
tianity— let  them  look  to  men  like  the  apostle  Paul. 
The  characteristics  possessed  by  these  can  save  and 
bless  on  earth,  no  less  than  in  heaven,  Godliness 
being  profitable 1  unto  all  things,  having  promise 
of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come. 

1 1  Tim.  4  :  8. 


XVII 

THE    WORLDLY    INHERITANCE    OF   THE   UN- 
WORLDLY   MIND 

"Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth.'- — Mat.  5  :  5. 

As  in  the  case  of  all  truly  good  men,  the  great 
Master's  own  life  furnished  always  the  best  com- 
mentary upon  his  teachings.  To  the  multitudes 
upon  the  mount  who  listened  to  the  words  of  our 
text  there  could  have  seemed  no  more  striking  ex- 
ample of  meekness  than  that  afforded  by  the  mild 
face  and  modest  bearing  of  the  speaker  who  ad- 
dressed them.  The  carpenter's  son,  reared  without 
experience  of  luxury,  and  ordained  to  preach  with- 
out pomp  of  ceremony,  his  only  authority  lay  in  the 
truth  that  he  uttered,  his  only  attractiveness  in  the 
courteous  bearing  and  kindly  deeds  with  which  he 
had  confirmed  this  truth.  Behind  him,  as  he  spoke, 
appeared  no  altar  rich  in  gems;  beyond,  no  chancel, 
set  with  marbles.  About  him  was  the  common  meet- 
ing place  for  all  humanity; — no  tiling  in  the  aisles 
save  that  which  had  been  laid  there  by  the  hands  that 
framed  all  nature:  no  carpet  at  his  feet  save  that 
on  which  were  spread  flowers  freely  welcoming  the 
ownership  of  every  living  creature.  Above,  there 
was  no  dome  except  the  pure  expanse  of  heaven,— 

255 


256      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

God's  own,  resting  against  the  blue  horizon  only, — 
the  narrowest  walls  that  ever  he  prescribed  for 
limits  of  the  true  church  militant.  Even  when  the 
labors  of  the  day  were  done  and  night  came  on, 
tho  the  foxes 1  had  their  holes,  and  the  birds  of 
the  air  their  nests,  he  had  not  where  to  lav  his  head. 
During  a  few  months,  it  is  true,  the  multitudes, 
healed  of  their  diseases,  and  welcomed  in  their 
wretchedness,  had  flocked  to  him  with  grateful  eyes 
and  heedful  ears.  But,  close  upon  the  heels  of  the 
multitudes,  suspicious  of  the  influence  that  drew 
them,  came  their  rulers.  Later  in  his  ministry, 
tho  often  he  would  fain  have  gained  a  little  rest 
upon  the  fields  where  he  had  met  the  people,  the 
officers  of  law  were  there,  the  agents  of  his  enemies ; 
and  he  was  forced  to  spend  the  weary  night  in  flight. 
For  all  this,  too,  so  far  as  human  eyes  could  see, 
appeared  no  compensation.  Every  day  until  his 
last,  the  great  men  of  the  land  reviled,  pursued,  and 
persecuted  him.  For  months  before  his  death,  the 
shadow  of  a  cruel  crucifixion  loomed  before  him; 
and  no  word  of  his  revealed  that  he  had  even  hoped 
that  it  might  be  averted.  On  the  contrary,  he 
prophesied  that  it  should  take  place  2  even  as  it  did. 
He  started  for  Jerusalem,  and  sought  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane,  in  his  own  emphatic  language,  because 
"his  hour 3  was  come."  As  Isaiah  years  before  had 
said  of  such  a  character,  "He  was  despised 4  and  re- 
jected of  men;  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief.    He  was  oppressed  and  he  was  afflicted, 

1  M  it.  v   :  20.        a  Mark  8  :  31.  s  Jno.  13:  1.        «Is.  53  :  3,  7. 


TEE  INEERITANCE   OF  MEEKNESS        257 

yet  he  opened  not  his  mouth.  He  is  brought  as  a 
lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before  her 
shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  openeth  not  his  mouth.' ; 
From  the  humble  beginning  to  the  humiliating  end 
of  his  ministry,  uttering  never  a  complaint,  sugges- 
tive of  rebellion,  moving  never  a  muscle  in  order 
to  ward  off  the  sufferings  to  which  he  was  heir,  his 
whole  life  was  one  continued  exemplification  of  that 
inward  resignation  of  spirit,  and  outward  acquies- 
cence in  the  lot  assigned  by  Providence,  with  which 
we  are  accustomed  to  associate  the  idea  of  meekness. 

But  in  his  case,  connected  with  his  own  life,  were 
there  any  facts  illustrative  of  the  truth  of  the 
prophecy,  ''the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth"? 
Rather,  might  we  not  ask,  were  there  any  facts  that 
were  not  illustrative  of  its  truth?  Why  was  it  that 
the  common  people  flocked  to  him,  and  heard  him 
gladly?1  Why  was  it,  for  so  long  a  time,  that  the 
rulers,  anxious  to  arrest  him,2  dared  not  lay  hold  on 
him  because  they  feared  the  people?  Why  was 
it  that,  immediately  after  his  death,  his  disciples 
began  to  be  numbered  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands? Why  is  it  that,  to-day,  wherever  faith  in 
him  has  been  acknowledged,  Christianity  is  the  sys- 
tem, and  Christian  the  name,  in  connection  with 
which  are  associated  all  the  most  powerful  as  well 
as  beneficial  agencies  that  exert  influence  over  na- 
tions or  individuals? 

Ask  any  unprejudiced  person,  what  is  put  forth 
in  the  New  Testament  as  the  essence  of  Christian 

1  Mark  12  :  37.  2  Mark   12  :  12. 


258       SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

doctrine,  what  is  the  spirit  of  Christian  life?  Is  it 
not  love,  and  a  life  according  to  principles  of  love? 
Is  not  the  origin  of  the  whole  of  it  the  fact  that, 
"even  as  Christ1  pleased  not  himself,"  but  freely 
gave  himself  ' '  a  ransom 2  for  all, ' '  so  others  of  the 
race,  drawn  into  sympathy  with  the  same  life,  are  try- 
ing to  "bear 3  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  to  fulfil 
the  law  of  Christ"? — And  would  there  have  been  any 
attempt  on  the  part  of  his  earlier  or  of  his  later 
disciples  to  do  this,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  meek- 
ness that  always  characterized  his  own  bearing? 
Was  it  not  this  that,  in  the  midst  of  revilings  and 
persecutions  and  even  crucifixion  itself,  enabled  him 
always  to  manifest  that,  no  matter  what  others 
might  do  to  him,  love  was  his  uppermost  characteris- 
tic? So  far  then  as  Christianity  has  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  earth,  so  far  as  it  is  the  most  powerful 
agency  that  overrules  human  actions  and  progress 
— and  who  doubts  that  it  now  is  or  ultimately  shall 
become  such? — this  inheritance  of  the  earth  that  has 
fallen  to  its  lot  is  due,  humanly  speaking,  mainly 
to  the  meekness  that  its  founder  was  enabled  to 
manifest. 

Such  seems  to  be  the  fact  with  reference  to  the 
Master  himself;  and  it  is  natural  to  infer  that  what 
was  true  of  him  will  be  true  of  his  followers.  In 
proportion  as  they  manifest  through  the  meekness 
of  their  bearing  that  they  seek  not  their  own  good 
but  that  of  others,  in  this  proportion  will  they  be- 
gin to  influence  others  for  good.     That  which  ren- 

>Bom.   15  :  3.  - 1  Tim.  2:  6.  3  Gal.   6  :  2. 


THE  INHERITANCE   OF  MEEKNESS        259 

dered  Jesus  powerful  to  possess  himself  of  the  lives 
and  services  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  will  ren- 
der his  disciples  powerful  to  do  the  same.  This 
much  a  merely  superficial,  general  consideration  of 
the  text  might  teach  us.  But  let  us  look  into  the 
subject  more  carefully. 

"The  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth."  In  the  case 
of  our  Lord,  as  the  church  maintains,  he  was  to  in- 
herit the  earth — i.  e.,  to  own  its  products  and  its 
kingdoms, — first,  spiritually,  by  ruling  over  the 
hearts  of  men,  who  should  dedicate  themselves  and 
their  possessions  to  his  service ;  and  second,  literally, 
by  causing  the  influence  exerted  upon  their  hearts — 
the  love  awakened  therein — to  come  gradually  to 
have  an  effect  upon  their  outward  lives.  Owing  to 
this  effect,  extending  from  individuals  to  communi- 
ties, by  and  by,  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  should  all 
become  literally,  externally,  materially,  the  King- 
doms 1  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ. 

In  the  case  of  Jesus,  then,  the  church  believes  that 
the  statement  of  the  text  was  to  be  evinced  and, 
partially,  has  been  evinced  to  be  true,  first,  spirit- 
ually, and,  second,  materially.  A  similar  fact  might 
be  affirmed  of  many  other  statements  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and,  as  much  for  the  right  interpretation  of 
these  others  as  of  the  one  before  us,  it  is  important 
for  us  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  how  the  truth  can 
be  made  to  seem  truth  in  each  case,  .and  in  such  a 
way  that  we  ourselves  shall  recognize  it  for  what  it 
is.    Anything  that  is  true  merely  spiritually  must  be 

iKev.  11  :  15. 


260       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

made  to  seem  so,  of  course,  to  our  spirits.  Anything, 
on  the  contrary,  that  is  literally,  i.  e.,  materially 
true,  must  be  made  to  seem  so  to  that  which  is  ma- 
terial in  us, — to  our  senses.  To  express  this  differ- 
ently, we  become  conscious  of  truth  recognized  by 
our  spirits,  only  as  it  appears  to  us  in  the  unseen 
region  of  thought, — only  as  it  exists  for  us  in  the 
realm  of  ideas.  Our  consciousness  concerning  it  is 
simply  this, — we  have  an  idea,  a  belief,  a  conviction 
in  connection  with  it.  On  the  other  hand,  of  that 
which  is  recognized  through  the  senses,  we  have 
more  than  this, — we  have  an  actual  perception. 

So  far  then  as  our  Lord  was  conscious  of  the  ful- 
filment of  this  text,  it  was  fulfilled  for  him  first 
ideally,  and,  second,  really;  and  our  own  conscious- 
ness of  its  fulfilment  in  our  own  case  must  be  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  same  order.  How  then  did  the 
meekness  of  Jesus  enable  him  to  be  conscious  of  pos- 
sessing the  world  ideally?  And  how  could  a  meek 
spirit  in  you  and  me  enable  us  to  do  the  same?  As 
intimated  a  moment  ago,  that  which  we  term  meek- 
ness is  the  disposition  of  soul  which  causes  one's 
spirit  and  bearing  to  be  resigned  and  acquiescent  in 
view  of  the  lot  assigned  him  by  Providence.  As 
such,  of  course,  meekness  implies  implicit  faith  in 
the  power,  wisdom  and  love  of  the  controller  of 
Providence.  In  our  Lord  himself  meekness  was  the 
state  of  mind  corresponding  to  the  purpose  of  his 
life — "Lo,  I  come  to1  do  thy  will,  0  God";  and  in 
his  case  this  meekness  was  apparent  in  every  rela- 

1  Heb.  10  :  7. 


TEE  INHERITANCE   OF  MEEKNESS        261 

tion.    He  seems,  so  far  as  concerned  his  humanity, 
to  have  looked  upon  himself  merely  as  an  agent  — 
his  aim  being  merely  to  fulfil  the  will  of  God.    Be- 
sides this,  as  he  looked  upon  all  the  characters  and 
«  circumstances  about  him  as  other  agents  whose  work 
it  was  to  fulfil  the  same  will,  what  other  feeling 
than  meekness  could  he  have?    He  was  as  God  had 
made   him.      Surrounding   characters   and   circum- 
stances were  as  God  had  made  them;  and  the  play 
of  thought  and  action  between  him  and  them  was  as 
God  had  designed  it.    It  was  his  duty,  first,  to  go 
forward  and  perform  the  will  of  God  so  far  as  he 
knew  what  it  was,  and  with  what  materials  he  could 
find  about  him;  and,  second,  to  accept  without  com- 
plaint whatever  consequences  might  ensue.     At  the 
beginning  of  his  career,  his  own  position  in  life  was 
humble.    He  could  influence  only  the  humble.    What 
of  that?    He  chose  unlettered  fishermen  for  his  dis- 
ciples, and  meekly  made  the  best  of  their  lack  of 
other  training,  by  saying,  to  himself  as  well  as  to 
them,  that  he  would  make  them  fishers  of  men.1 
Simon  was  stubborn  and  pushing.     What  of  that? 
The  Master  welcomed  the  character  as  he  found  it, 
and,  meekly  having  faith  that  all  was  for  the  best, 
termed  him  not  the  stubborn  one,  but  Peter,  his 
rock.2    James  and  John  were  passionate  and  rash. 
What  of  that?     He  meekly  recalled  that  fiery  na- 
tures kindled  from  a  high  source  may  manifest  light 
that  flashes  from  a  high  source;  and  he  surnamed 
them   his   "Boanerges,3   sons   of  thunder."     Even 

1Mark   1  :  17.  2  Mat.  16  :  18.  3  Mark  3  :  17. 


262       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

Judas,  who  betrayed  him,  and  the  Pharisees,  who 
secured  his  crucifixion,  could  not  startle  the  serenity 
of  his  spirit.  They  did  these  things  "because  the 
scriptures  *  must  be  fulfilled. ' '  Thus  ' '  it  behooved 
the  Christ  to  suffer."  2  In  these  ways  our  Lord,  ac- 
cepting, first,  the  wish  of  the  Heavenly  Father  as 
his  own,  was  enabled  to  accept  as  his  own  all  the 
orderings  of  that  Father.  In  accordance  with  the 
same  principles,  you  and  I,  friends,  if  we  have  meek- 
ness to  seek,  first,  the  Kingdom  of  God,  by  which 
is  meant  the  sway,  the  orderings,  of  God  and  of  his 
righteousness — i.  e.,  what  he  considers  right — can 
have  all  these  things  added  unto  us ;  can  accept  and 
welcome  them  as  tho  we  felt  them  to  be  our  own, 
i.  e.,  we  can  inherit,  own,  all  things.  Do  you  doubt 
this?  Do  you  imagine  it  too  subtle  a  principle  to 
become  practical  in  everyday  life?  Subtle  it  is,  be- 
cause it  is  spiritual;  but  for  all  that,  there  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  not  become  practical.  For  in- 
stance, we  all  have  neighbors  whose  circumstances 
may  be  considered  better  than  are  our  own,  at  least 
in  some  one,  or,  it  may  be,  in  many  regards.  These 
neighbors  have  been  more  fortunate  in  business,  have 
inherited  more  wealth,  have  a  higher  social  position, 
are  more  influential,  attractive,  admired,  beloved,  or, 
at  least,  have  more  friends.  Every  one  of  us,  prob- 
ably, can  recall  one  or  more  neighbors  or  acquain- 
tances who,  in  some  one  or  more  regards,  may  be 
said  to  surpass  ourselves.  Some  of  us,  too,  are 
wretched  all  our  lives  because,  in  just  the  features 

^Iark  14  :  49.  2  Luke  24  :  46. 


THE  INHERITANCE   OF  MEEKNESS        263 

upon  which  we  should  like  to  pride  ourselves  exclu- 
sively, some  one  either  is,  or  is  supposed  by  some 
to  be,  superior.  Look  at  the  petty  jealousies  among 
even  small  girls,  and  rivalries  among  boys,  and  listen 
to  the  gossip  and  slander  awakened  by  causes  such 
as  these.  Not  to  mention  the  grosser  and  more  in- 
tense competitions  of  business  life  and  of  social  life 
as  exemplified  by  the  strife  for  leadership  among 
the  four  hundred  of  New  York  or  Newport,  one- 
half  of  all  the  conversation  of  every  village  is  made 
up  of  insinuating  expressions  of  spite  on  the  part 
of  opposing  claimants  for  superior  distinction.  Now, 
it  is  evident,  that  all  this  sort  of  thing,  and  all  the 
ill-feeling  in  which  it  originates,  or  which  it  occa- 
sions, is  a  manifestation  of  intrinsic  lack  of  meek- 
ness. Why  should  you  or  I  care  to  be  superior  to 
anyone  ?  Evidently  we  should  not,  were  we  not  more 
anxious  for  our  own  exaltation  than  for  theirs; 
more  than  this,  unless  we  were  more  anxious  to  have 
our  own  way  about  this  matter  than  that  of  Provi- 
dence which  endowed  with  whatever  is  possessed 
both  them  and  us.  Suppose  now  that  we  had  the 
meekness  to  keep  ourselves  and  our  own  wishes  in 
the  background,  and  to  accept  the  orderings  of  Prov- 
idence as  manifested  both  in  others'  circumstances 
and  in  our  own,  what  would  ensue?  Why,  friends, 
we  should  begin  not  only  to  be  pleased  with  the 
prosperity  granted  to  others,  but  we  should  begin 
to  feel,  to  become  conscious  in  our  spirits,  to  have  the 
idea,  that  we  ourselves  had  some  share  in  that  pros- 
perity.    Do   you   remember   that   story   about   the 


264       SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

Chinaman?  A  very  poor  man  himself,  he  encoun- 
tered, one  day,  an  old  friend  who  had  become  sud- 
denly wealthy,  and  who  was  about  to  pass  him  with- 
out recognizing  him.  This  former  friend  was  drest 
in  a  heavy  and  expensive  suit  of  very  elaborately 
carved  ivory.  The  poor  man  instantly  prostrated 
himself  before  the  other,  giving  vent  to  the  most 
gushing  expressions  of  gratitude.  "But  what  have 
I  done  for  thee  ? ' '  said  the  wealthy  friend.  ' '  Done  ? ' ' 
exclaimed  the  poor  man,  "Hast  thou  not  selected 
and  purchased  this  elegant  and  weighty  attire,  and 
loaded  it  upon  thy  shoulders,  that  I,  poor  wretch, 
may  have  a  vision  of  unrivalled  beauty  at  which 
to  gaze  and  wonder?"  The  Chinaman  was  a  far 
better  philosopher  than  you  and  I  are  Christians, 
if  we  fail  to  recognize  the  truth  of  the  principle  to 
which  he  gave  expression.  To  whom  belongs  the 
beauty  of  the  faces,  forms  or  robes  of  our  neighbors? 
Is  it  not  attractive  in  so  far  alone  as  it  is  seen?  Who 
sees  it? — our  neighbors  or  ourselves? — Our  neigh- 
bors never,  except  when  standing  in  front  of  their 
mirrors.  It  is  ourselves  that  perceive  it.  In  so  far 
as  concerns  the  possession  of  a  view  of  it,  then,  is 
it  not  ours?  Why  does  it  not  belong  to  us?  Why 
should  not  we  ourselves  receive,  and  be  conscious  of 
receiving,  the  main  pleasure  that  it  affords? — I  think 
that  I  can  indicate  the  reason.  We  have  not  the 
spirit  to  appropriate  it.  What  spirit  could  appro- 
priate it?  That  question  is  easy  to  answer. — The 
spirit  of  the  mother  who  should  perceive  all  that 
beauty  and  brightness  in  connection  with  the  per- 


TEE  INHERITANCE   OE  MEEKNESS        265 

son  of  her  own  child ;  the  spirit  of  the  husband  who 
should  perceive  them  in  a  wife;  or  of  the  brother, 
who  should  perceive  them  in  a  sister.  No  jealousy, 
no  spite,  no  wretchedness  then !  Why  not  ?  On  ac- 
count of  the  spirit  behind  the  eyes  that  viewed  them, 
— the  family  spirit,  comprehensive  to  appropriate 
the  endowments  of  every  member  of  the  household 
as  its  own.  But,  by  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  do  we 
not  all  belong  to  the  family  of  the  Heavenly  Father! 
By  the  testimony  of  reason,  do  we  not  all  belong 
among  the  offspring  of  the  Creator?  And  is  there  no 
spirit  in  accordance  with  which  the  Christian  may 
appropriate  the  endowments  of  every  member  of  all 
the  spiritual  household,  or  the  man,  merely  as  a  hu- 
man being,  appropriate  those  of  all  humanity?  The 
spirit  to  which  I  refer  is  that  which  has  faith  in  the 
God  who  has  allotted  to  men  these  different  endow- 
ments,—the  spirit  that  has  a  fellow  feeling  for  those 
to  whom  they  have  been  allotted.  It  is  the  spirit 
of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  the  spiritual  state  of  meek- 
ness. Animated  by  it,  a  man  may  move  through 
the  world,  and  not  alone  the  heaving  mountain 
ranges  and  the  nestling  lakes,  the  lofty  forests  and 
the  lowly  flowers,  but  every  mighty  man  of  influence 
in  the  state  and  all  others  down  to  the  little  children 
romping  on  the  roads  and  swinging  on  the  gates, — 
all  of  the  growth,  the  wealth,  the  beauty,  the  bright- 
ness of  the  earth,  he  may  be  conscious  that  he  owns — 
not,  it  is  true,  materially, — to  clutch  and  keep  as 
might  the  miser  in  his  misery;  but  nevertheless 
ideally,  spiritually,  in  just  as  true  a  sense  as  does 


266       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

the  God  who  also,  in  this  world,  does  not  lay  ma- 
terial hands  npon  them,  and  as  did  the  Lord  Jesus 
who,  far  from  this,  let  all  the  world  lay  hands, 
and  violent  hands,  upon  himself.  In  spirit,  the  meek 
shall  inherit  the  earth!  Why  should  they  not?  In 
spirit,  they  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's,  and 
God's  are  all  things. 

Notice,  however,  that,  in  order  to  have  this  inheri- 
tance, a  man  must  possess  this  consciousness  of  ap- 
propriation not  alone  as  a  transient  but  also  as  a 
permanent  sentiment.  Suppose,  for  instance,  a  per- 
son, rich,  honorable,  intelligent  and  cultured,  to 
reside  in  a  neighborhood  where  the  masses  of  the 
people  are  poor,  immoral,  uninstructed,  unrefined. 
It  is  easy  enough  to  see  that,  in  view  of  the  circum- 
stances, this  man  may  pursue  one  of  two  entirely 
different  courses.  He  may  live  for  himself  alone, 
with  utter  disregard  of  the  necessities  of  those  about 
him.  Or  he  may  live  for  them.  He  may  apprehend 
that,  however  much  these  people  may  differ  from 
him,  externally  and  materially,  nevertheless,  inter- 
nally and  spiritually,  they  are  all  children  of  the 
same  heavenly  Father.  In  other  words,  he  may 
have  the  meekness  to  recognize  that,  spiritually,  they 
have  the  same  right  to  possess  wealth,  honor,  edu- 
cation or  culture  that  he  himself  has.  Recognizing 
this  fact,  he  may  start  out,  not  in  a  precipitate  or 
fanatical  way,  but  in  a  rational,  judicious,  cautious 
way — for  I  am  talking  now  of  a  man  eminently,  al- 
most divinely  wise — to  share  with  them,  as  a  steward 
of  God,  those  blessings  which,  through  the  incidents 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MEEKNESS       267 

of  birth  or  fortune,  have  fallen  to  himself.  So  far 
as  the  people  are  poor,  he  may  do  his  best  to  give 
them — not  alms — it  is  no  blessing  to  a  neighbor  to 
make  him  feel  that  he  is  a  beggar — not  alms,  but 
work,  and  fair  wages,  which  alone,  when  given  to- 
gether, impart  competence  without  impairing  inde- 
pendence. So  far  as  the  people  are  uneducated  and 
irreligious,  he  may  do  his  best  to  institute  social  re- 
forms, found  schools,  sustain  churches.  Now,  let 
these  agencies,  thus  set  in  operation,  go  on  and 
exert  their  legitimate  results.  Do  you  not  think  that 
in  the  enhanced  neatness  and  sweetness  of  the 
dresses  and  houses  of  the  poor,  in  their  more  genial 
manners  and  decorous  morality,  apparent  every- 
where, that  this  man  will  recognize  that  the  sphere 
of  his  own  nature  and  taste  is  widening, — that  his 
own  spirit,  because  of  its  influence,  is  actually  pass- 
ing into  possession  of  the  whole  community1?  And 
think  of  the  reflex  effect  of  all  this  upon  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  benefactor !  Does  not  the  mother, 
in  the  most  humble  circumstances,  enjoy  her  child 
more, — has  she  not  more  pride  and  pleasure  in  him 
— when  she  has  expended  a  little  care  upon  him,  and 
he  comes  into  the  sitting  room  washed  and  neatly 
drest  to  meet  the  visitors?  Does  she  not  enjoy  her 
own  parlor  more,  when  it  is  swept,  and  dusted,  and 
put  to  rights,  and  decked  with  fresh  flowers  or  clean 
curtains? — Well,  all  the  principles  of  religion,  like 
those  of  charity,  begin  at  home !  Extend  the  method 
of  which  I  have  been  speaking  to  all  one 's  surround- 
ings.   Let  it  reach  outside  of  the  narrow  limits  of 


268       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

one's  own  household.  Why  would  not  this  lead  to 
an  interest,  jnst  as  enjoyable — nay,  more  enjoyable 
because  less  selfish — in  seeing  all  the  outside  people 
of  one's  town  better  clothed,  housed,  educated,  be- 
haved? Believe  me,  friends,  this  would  lead  to  an 
experience  of  Christian  life  infinitely  more  blessed 
because  more  Christ-aimed,  than  any  possible 
amount  of  singing,  preaching  or  praying. 

You  think,  perhaps,  that  this  view  is  too  subtle, 
too  idealistic  to  apply, — to  make  your  own  in  prac- 
tice. You  would  not,  had  you  tried  it  once, — had 
you  risen  in  your  spirit  to  the  viewpoint  of  the  Mas- 
ter, and,  forgetful  of  yourselves,  and  thoroughly  in 
sympathy  with  him,  come  back  to  earth  to  watch 
the  good  with  enthusiasm  and  the  beautiful  with  in- 
spiration, because  both  alike  are  adding  to  his  glory. 
You  would  not,  had  you  tried  it  once,  had  you  sur- 
rendered all  your  being  to  his  service,  had  your 
spirit,  like  a  butterfly  leaving  its  chrysalis,  burst  the 
body  of  its  selfishness,  and  risen  to  that  higher  life 
where  every  supreme  interest  is  connected  with  de- 
velopments everywhere  of  love,  joy,1  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  tem- 
perance, which  are  the  fruit  of  the  spirit. 

But  if  any  of  you  think  the  view  thus  presented 
is  too  subtle,  too  idealistic,  let  us  test  it  by  your 
own  measure, — by  its  influence  upon  real  things.  I 
have  said  that  in  the  case  of  our  Lord  the  statement 
was  not  only  spiritually— i.  e.,  ideally — but  literally 
true;  "the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth."    We  know 

'Gal.  5  :  22. 


THE  INHERITANCE   OE   MEEKNESS        269 

that  it  was  his  meek  spirit,  submitting  to  rejection 
and  crucifixion,  that  enabled  him  to  manifest  the 
divinity  of  love  in  such  a  manner  as  to  draw  all x 
men  unto  him;  as  to  make  Christianity  the  most 
powerful  influence  in  the  world,  an  influence  which, 
as  we  hope,  shall  ultimately  subdue  all  things  to  it- 
self. Why  should  not  a  manifestation  of  the  same 
spirit  which  was  so  powerful  in  his  life,  and  has 
been  so  efficacious  since  his  death,  do  the  same  for 
his  followers?  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  you  and 
I,  because  we  are  Christ's  and  Christ  is  God's,  were 
to  begin,  ideally  alone,  to  look  upon  the  world  as 
the  Master  himself  did, — as  a  place  in  which  to  per- 
ceive and  to  perpetuate  the  glory  of  the  common 
household  which,  inasmuch  as  we,  too,  are  a  part  of 
it,  is  our  own.  What  would  be  the  practical  result? 
Suppose  that  we  were  really  to  begin,  in  all  cases, 
to  take  pride  and  pleasure  in  another's  beauty, 
wealth,  accomplishments,  means  of  influence, — for 
all  these,  tho  of  inferior  rank  to  positive  goodness, 
are  nevertheless  gifts  that  God  has  bestowed — sup- 
pose that  we  were  to  begin  to  take  pride  and  pleasure 
in  them, — would  not  the  persons  possessing  them, 
perceiving  from  our  actions  that  we  had  a  fellow 
feeling  with  them,  begin,  in  return,  to  trust  us  and 
to  love  us,  even  to  the  extent  of  sharing  with  us 
and  devoting  to  our  services,  in  a  literal,  material 
sense,  the  gifts  and  goods  with  which  God  had  pros- 
pered them?  In  this  case,  inheriting  the  earth  in 
spirit,  what  would  it  be  except,  as  in  the  case  of  our 

^no.  12  :  32. 


270       SUGGESTIONS   FOB    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

Lord  himself,  the  preliminary  condition  to  inherit- 
ing it  in  reality?  And  if  we  all  had  this  spirit,  if 
we  all  had  the  meekness  that  seeks  another's  not  nec- 
essarily in  preference  to  one's  own  good,  but  as  well 
as  one's  own  good,  how  long  do  you  think  it  would 
be  before,  literally,  every  one  of  us  would  inherit  all 
things! — have  all  things  literally — so  far  as  we,  in 
turn,  were  not  selfish  about  them — at  our  disposal? 
Yet,  if  we  look  about  us,  how  far  do  we  find  this 
condition  of  things  from  being  realized!  We  see 
thousands  who  reckon  their  incomes  by  thousands 
of  dollars,  and  yet  reckon  their  benefactions  literally 
by  hundreds  of  cents.  They  think,  because  this 
money  has  been  earned  and  belongs  to  them,  that 
they  have  a  right  to  keep  it — almost  all  of  it, — and 
are  wise  in  keeping  it.  They  mistake ;  they  have  too 
limited  ideas  about  the  extent  of  God's  purposes  with 
reference  to  themselves.  He  has  given  them  the 
whole  world,  and  this  money  to  spend  upon  it  in  mak- 
ing it  more  delightful.  How  little  conception  of  this 
fact  there  is  in  what  we  term,  and  in  those  who  term 
themselves,  our  American  aristocracy, — in  those 
who,  when  two  or  three  of  them  meet  together,  ''re- 
member to  forget"  that  the  Lord  is  the  Maker  of 
them  all.  How  long  shall  such  as  they  fill  our 
churches  as  well  as  our  homes,  our  Sunday  schools 
as  well  as  our  day-schools?  It  is  the  meek, — not 
the  monied  or  the  proud  in  any  sense, — that  shall 
ultimately  inherit  the  earth, — inherit  it  in  those  sub- 
lime sympathies,  and  immortal  aims  that  expand  the 
soul  that  trusts  in  God  until  the  things  of  God  ap- 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MEEKNESS        271 

pear  one's  own;  inherit  it  in  receiving  for  oneself 
the  love  and  service  which  always  flow,  like  water 
to  an  emptied  reservoir,  toward  any  heart  made 
lighter  by  the  love  and  service  rendered  others.  It 
is  with  love,  as  it  is  with  fire.  Let  it  be  kindled 
once;  let  enough  of  a  draft  blow  on  the  spark  to 
start  a  flame ;  no  trouble  after  that !  The  fire  itself 
creates  a  vacuum  that  draws  with  every  breath  a 
greater  draft.  Wherever  love  begins  to  flame,  ex- 
pending all  its  inward  force  on  words  and  deeds 
that  manifest  it,  there  with  every  breath  is  drawn 
more  force  of  love  from  the  resources  of  the  world 
about.  Be  not  afraid,  friends  of  the  faith  that 
prompts  you  to  live  for  others.  The  warmth  of  your 
affection,  the  brightness  of  your  zeal,  are  heat  and 
light  that  draw  the  more,  the  more  that  they  expend. 
This  is  the  sphere  in  which  the  man  who  tries  to 
"save  his  life  *  shall  lose  it;  and  whosoever  will  lose 
his  life  shall  find  it."  This  is  the  place  where 
"whosoever  exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased2  and 
he  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted. ' '  This  is 
the  state  in  which  the  meek  man  who  has  been  lavish 
with  his  own  endowments  and  possessions  that  he 
may  thus  advance  the  good  of  earth  and  of  heaven 
is  himself  advanced  to  a  literal  as  well  as  to  a  spirit- 
ual inheritance  of  both. 

xMat.  16  :  25.  2Luke  14  :  11. 


XVIII 

THE    SPIRITUAL    SOLUTION    FOR    SOCIALISTIC 

PROBLEMS 

"But  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  every  man  to  profit 
withal."— 1  Cor.  12  :  7. 

There  are  two  ways  of  regarding  the  forms  ap- 
parent in  the  world  about  us.  "We  may  look  upon 
them  sex>arately  or  collectively;  as  existing  in  and 
for  themselves,  or  as  different  manifestations  of 
some  one  thing  that  exists  behind  them.  For  in- 
stance, we  observe  the  conditions  of  life,  and,  after 
we  have  observed  them,  we  distinguish  from  one 
another  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  intelligent  and 
the  ignorant,  the  healthy  and  the  sickly,  the  capi- 
talists and  the  laborers,  the  masters  and  the  servants. 
We  may  look  upon  the  classes  thus  observed  sep- 
arately, as  existing  in  and  for  themselves;  or  col- 
lectively, considering  each  as  a  manifestation  of  the 
one  body,  social,  political  or  human,  of  which  it  is 
recognized  to  be  a  constituent  member.  At  first 
thought,  it  may  seem  to  make  little  difference  in 
which  of  these  two  ways  we  regard  them.  But  a 
moment's  reflection  will  reveal  our  error.  Suppose 
that  a  man  find  himself  among  the  number  of  the 
rich,  the  intelligent,  the  healthy,  the  capitalists,  the 
masters, — few,  of  course,  belong  to  all  these  classes, 

272 


SOCIALISTIC    PEOBLEMS  273 

but  occasionally  one  does.  If  so,  and  if  his  thoughts 
dwell  only  on  this  fact,  will  he  not  be  in  danger  of 
becoming  heady  and  haughty,  of  beginning  to 
think,  not  like  the  Brahmins  of  India  alone  but  like 
the  more  enlightened  nobleman  of  Europe,  that  he 
is  the  especial  protege  of  Providence ;  that,  actually, 
a  different  blood  washes  his  blue  veins  from  that 
which  dyes  the  more  ruddy  brow  and  hand  of  the 
Psudra?  On  the  other  hand,  suppose  that  his  hum- 
bler friend  look  alone  upon  the  poverty  and  ignor- 
ance, sickness  and  servitude  that  have  fallen  to  his 
lot, — will  he  not  be  in  danger  of  deriving  from  the 
same  an  impression  of  the  partiality  of  Providence, 
and  a  lesson  of  distrust  and  despondency?  Evi- 
dently such  must  be  the  case ;  and  if,  by  any  method, 
we  could  make  the  former  think  less  of  himself,  and 
the  latter  think  more  of  himself,  should  we  not  be 
doing  a  little,  at  least,  toward  promoting  the  kindli- 
ness and  the  happiness  of  our  fellows!  The  only 
way  of  accomplishing  this  object  is  through  render- 
ing the  proud  man,  if  we  can,  conscious  that  he  is 
no  better  off,  and  the  humble  man,  if  we  can,  con- 
scious that  he  is  no  worse  off,  than  is  his  neighbor. 
But  how  can  the  one  be  made  to  appear  no  better 
off",  and  the  other  no  worse  off?  It  evidently  can- 
not be  done  at  all,  so  long  as  we  regard  alone  the 
external  forms  in  which  their  different  conditions 
manifest  themselves.  The  externals  of  wealth  and 
health  are  certainly  more  desirable  than  are  those 
of  poverty  and  disease.  In  what  degree  they  are 
not  so,  can  be  recognized  in  so  far   only  as   one, 


274       SUGGESTIONS   FOB    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

through  some  method,  can  learn  to  look  below  ap- 
pearances to  certain  conditions  and  demands  of  hu- 
manity to  which  that  which  underlies  all  the  different 
appearances  must  minister.  But  how  can  one  learn 
to  do  this?  How  can  he  learn  to  look  upon  his  own 
sphere  of  life  and  the  spheres  of  others  in  such  a 
way  as  to  estimate  them,  not  according  to  the  inci- 
dents of  circumstance  or  the  accidents  of  fortune, 
but  according  to  principles  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
reconcile  each  to  his  own  allotted  station?  This  is 
a  problem  which  sociologists  of  every  age  have 
sought  to  solve.  In  our  own  country  we  began  to 
try  to  solve  it  and  to  reconcile  men  to  themselves 
and  to  one  another  by  doing  away  with  political  and 
social  distinctions  of  rank.  All  men,  declared  the 
founders  of  our  institutions,  are  created  free  and 
equal.  So  we  banished  from  the  midst  of  us  the 
royalty  and  nobility  of  Europe,  and  made  every 
man  a  ruler  because  a  voter.  Nevertheless,  notwith- 
standing this  attempt  on  our  part,  we  have  already 
developed  political  rulers  who,  by  means  of  party 
organizations  and  what  are  called  rings,  have  ren- 
dered it  well-nigh  as  difficult  for  the  people  here  to 
give  a  free  and  truthful  expression  to  their  opinions 
as  to  do  it  in  the  mother  country.  Already,  as  a  nat- 
ural result  of  commercial  enterprise,  the  resources 
of  money,  and  with  it  power,  have  been  concentrated 
into  the  hands  of  the  few  to  such  an  extent  that  we 
are  threatened  with  an  aristocracy  of  wealth,  in 
many  of  its  features  as  domineering  and  oppressive 
as  anything  of  the  kind  to  be  found  in  Europe. 


SOCIALISTIC   PROBLEMS  275 

Our  country  has  tried  also  universal  and  free  edu- 
cation. But  this  has  not  brought  to  men  a  sense 
of  equality.  The  sneers  of  the  better  educated,  be- 
cause of  their  own  better  minds  or  greater  advan- 
tages, prove  that  there  can  be  snobs  in  learning  as 
well  as  in  other  departments.  Nor  has  negro-suf- 
frage done  away  with  the  unjust  distinctions  of 
race;  nor  will  woman  suffrage  do  away  with  those 
of  sex.  Only  a  few  days  ago,  I  heard  an  advocate 
of  this  latter  panacea  shriek  out  to  women  who  did 
not  wish  to  vote  that  no  slaves  were  more  despicable 
than  the  voluntary  ones.  So,  merely  because  of  dif- 
ferent tastes,  this  change,  if  it  come,  may  bring 
new  inequalities ; — a  Brahmin  and  a  Psudra  caste 
among  the  women.  It  is  evident  that  these  reforms, 
all  well  enough,  it  may  be,  so  far  as  they  go,  fail  to 
go  sufficiently  far  to  secure  that  reign  of  universal 
kindness  and  happiness  which  their  advocates  are 
accustomed  to  foretell. 

The  reason  appears  to  be  this : — that  the  changes 
are  merely  reformations;  in  other  words,  they  are 
changes  merely  in  the  forms  of  life;  whereas,  what 
is  needed  in  order  to  secure  more  kindness  and  hap- 
piness, is  that  all  of  us  shall  care  less  for  the 
forms  than  for  that  of  which  all  the  forms,  social, 
political  or  human,  are  merely  different  manifesta- 
tions. It  might  be  delightful  if  all  the  houses  in 
the  world  were  palaces,  and  all  of  us  could  issue 
from  them  in  coaches.  But  households,  even  in 
palaces,  could  not  be  managed  without  some  to  do 
the  work  of  servants ;  and  coaches  need  coachmen. 


276       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

It  might  be  more  convenient  for  all  of  us,  if,  instead 
of  walking  or  rowing  when  on  a  journey,  we  could 
avail  ourselves  of  railways  and  steamboats.  But  no 
trains  or  boats  could  run  without  common  laborers 
to  dig  out  coal  from  the  mines,  drag  it  to  the  fur- 
naces, and  stoke  the  fires.  So  we  see  that,  no  mat- 
ter how  high  in  society  may  be  our  relative  position, 
we  are  dependent  for  our  comfort  and  convenience 
upon  others,  however  low  may  seem  their  position. 
In  fact,  it  is  easier  to  explain  the  utility  of  the  lower 
than  of  the  higher  classes,  just  as  it  is  easier  to 
explain  the  utility  of  the  foundations  of  a  palace 
than  that  of  its  beautiful  gables  and  turrets.  I  be- 
lieve, however,  that  these  latter  have  their  uses.  So, 
I  believe  that  the  higher  classes  have  their  uses.  If 
you  go  to  England,  you  find,  near  almost  every  vil- 
lage, the  residence  of  some  nobleman.  His  grounds 
extend  into  an  immense  park,  planned  and  cultivated 
with  scrupulous  care.  As  a  rule,  too,  the  park  is 
kept  open  for  the  enjoyment  of  all  who  choose  to 
enter  it.  To  have  this  park  in  one's  neighborhood, 
therefore,  is  a  distinct  advantage,  even  if  it  involve 
having  there  also  the  rich  man  whose  palace  it  sur- 
rounds. As  society  is  constituted,  it  seems  almost 
necessary  in  every  community  to  have  certain  per- 
sons with  wealth  and  leisure,  who  can  study,  im- 
prove, enlighten  and  beautify  the  life  about  them, 
and,  through  their  example,  furnish  a  stimulus  to 
healthful  emulation  and  industrious  thrift  on  the 
part  of  others.  So,  it  seems  that  both  classes,  the 
high  and  the  low — tho  not  necessarily  as  wide  apart 


SOCIALISTIC   PROBLEMS  277 

as  at  present — must  exist  and  should  exist.  Each 
needs  the  other.  If  we  cannot  abolish  the  distinc- 
tions between  them,  how  can  we  abolish  the  evils  of 
too  great  haughtiness  and  too  great  humiliation  that 
result  from  them? 

The  answer  to  this  question  seems  to  be  contained 
in  the  statement  in  our  text.  When  we  speak  of  so- 
ciety, of  human  life,  or  of  the  world,  and  say  that 
every  class  is  of  value  to  it  as  a  whole,  what  do  we 
mean  except  that  every  class  is  of  value  to  the  Ruler 
whose  laws  are  expressed  in  the  arrangements  of 
society,  of  human  life  and  of  the  world? — whose  au- 
thority stands  behind  existing  conditions,  controll- 
ing and  impelling  their  different  forms  to  accom- 
plish its  purposes?  Therefore,  says  our  text,  the 
manifestation  of  the  Spirit,  i.  e.,  the  different  forms 
of  life,  of  ability,  of  endowments,  of  gifts,  through 
which  the  wish,  the  will,  the  design  of  God,  who  is 
the  Spirit,  manifest  themselves — in  other  words, 
the  peculiar  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  made 
through  each,  "is  given  to  every  man  to  profit 
withal." 

The  first  sense  in  which  it  seems  natural  to  inter- 
pret this  statement  is  that  the  manifestation  is  given 
to  the  profit  of  all  men  collectively.  The  words,  as 
shown  in  the  context,  refer  especially  to  the  church ; 
but  the  principle  is  universal.  It  applies  to  all 
spheres  of  action.  The  manifestation  of  the  Spirit 
is  given  to  every  man  for  the  profit  of  all.  "There 
are  diversities  of  gifts,"  says  the  Apostle,  in  intro- 
ducing the  subject,  "but  the  same  Spirit,  and  there 


278      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

are  differences  of  administration  but  the  same 
Lord."  "Now  hath  God  set  the  members  every  one 
of  them  in  the  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him,  and  if 
they  were  all  one  member,  where  were  the  body?  .  . 
God  hath  tempered  the  body  together  .  .  that  there 
should  be  no  schism  in  the  body;  but  that  the  mem- 
bers should  have  the  same  care  one  for  another; 
and  whether  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it;  or  one  member  be  honored,  all  the 
members  rejoice  with  it."  The  truth  brought  out 
here  is  that  each  should  learn  to  look  away  from 
the  individual  form  of  the  manifestation  to  the  body 
Spiritual,  and  that,  if  he  do  this,  he  can  find  a  place, 
in  the  economy  of  God,  for  himself  not  only  but  for 
every  one  else.  Here  is  an  invalid  unable  to  lift 
a  finger.  What  good  can  he  do? — He  can  manifest 
patience,  gentleness,  considerateness,  self-denial; 
and,  even  without  manifesting  these,  because  his 
disease  may  sometimes  get  the  mastery  of  him,  he 
can  cultivate  them  in  others  who  are  waiting  upon 
him.  So  the  poor  can  cultivate  in  the  whole  body 
benevolence;  the  ignorant,  communicativeness;  the 
rich,  industry;  the  aristocratic,  deference;  the  re- 
fined, delicacy.  There  is  no  one  in  the  economy  of 
God  who  fails  to  occupy  some  sphere  from  which  he 
can  exert  some  needed  form  of  influence.  No  one 
who  is  trying  to  live  true  to  the  promptings  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  however  limited  his  success,  is  not 
benefiting  to  some  extent  the  whole  body  Spiritual. 
But  our  text  is  susceptible  of  another  interpreta- 
tion.   The  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  the 


SOCIALISTIC   PROBLEMS  279 

profit,  not  only  of  all  men  collectively,  but  of  every 
man  individually.  This  truth  also  is  clearly  brought 
out  in  the  context: — "The  eye  cannot  say  unto  the 
hand,  I  have  no  need  of  thee ;  nor,  again,  the  head 
to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need  of  you.  Nay,  much  more 
those  members  of  the  body  which  seem  to  be  more 
feeble  are  necessary,  and  those  members  of  the  body 
which  we  think  to  be  less  honorable,  upon  these  we 
bestow  more  abundant  honor,  and  our  uncomely  parts 
have  more  abundant  comeliness.  .  .  .  God  hath 
tempered  the  body  together,  having  given  more 
abundant  honor  to  that  part  which  lacked  that  the 
members  should  have  the  same  care  one  of  another. ' ' 
So  I  say  that  the  text  teaches  that  the  manifestation 
of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  the  profit  of  every  man  in- 
dividually. This  is  more  difficult  to  understand  than 
the  truth  already  considered.  It  is  easy  enough  to 
perceive  how  servants  and  common  laborers,  how 
sick  and  poor,  ignorant  and  afflicted  people,  should 
be  beneficial  to  the  whole  body,  social  or  spiritual. 
But  how  it  is  better  for  you  and  me  individually 
to  be  the  hewers  of  wood,  the  drawers  of  water,  the 
errand-runners,  the  beasts  of  burden,  the  invalids 
or  the  inefficient  among  the  rest  of  humanity, — this 
is  very  difficult  to  understand.  Yet  there  is  a  way 
of  looking  even  at  this  aspect  of  the'  subject  which 
might  change  our  opinion  of  it.  The  most  important 
consideration  in  life  is  not  concerning  the  form  of 
one  \s  service,  but  concerning  that  of  which  the  form, 
and  all  forms  equally,  may  be  manifestations, — not 
concerning  the  thing  we  do,  but  concerning  the  spirit 


280       SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

in  which  we  do  it.  And  if  we  do  it  in  a  restless,  com- 
plaining, rebellious  spirit  because,  forsooth,  we  are 
hindered  from  doing  something  that  we  think  more 
worthy  of  our  efforts,  the  noblest  calling  in  life  might 
be  ours,  and  yet  cause  our  life  to  be  a  failure.  If, 
for  instance,  the  end  of  my  existence  were  to  become 
an  author,  I  could  learn  to  compose  in  a  hovel  as 
well  as  in  a  palace.  And  I  could  find  excuses,  too, 
in  either  place,  to  prevent  my  developing  my  abilities 
just  then  and  there.  In  the  hovel,  I  might  think  that 
I  was  too  poor  to  waste  my  time  in  study;  and,  in 
the  palace,  I  might  think  that  I  was  too  well  off  to 
feel  the  stimulus  needed  in  order  to  make  me  im- 
prove my  position.  Yet  neither  excuse  would  be  a 
valid  one.  Very  great  authors  have  sprung  from 
places  as  low  and  as  high  as  these.  The  true  way  to 
look  upon  such  matters  is  this : — The  aim  of  life  is 
discipline.  The  place  where  we  receive  the  disci- 
pline is  a  subordinate  consideration, — except,  per- 
haps, as  related  to  what  seems  to  be  a  general  rule, 
namely,  that  that  which  is  the  most  disciplinary  is 
apt  to  be  the  least  delightful.  So  it  happens  that,  no 
matter  what  may  be  our  circumstances  in  life,  we 
all,  very  frequently,  feel  the  need  of  putting  up  the 
prayer  expressed  in  that  old  hymn  of  George  Her- 
bert, entitled  "The  Elixir": 

Teach  me,  My  God  and  King, 

In  all  things  thee  to  see, 
And   what  I  do   in  anything 

To  do  it  as  for  thee. 

A   man  that  looks  on  glass 
On  it  may  stay  his  eye; 


SOCIALISTIC   PROBLEMS  281 

Or,  if  he  pleaseth,  thro'  it  pass 
And  then  the  heaven  espy. 

All  may  of  thee  partake, 

Nothing   can   be   so   mean 
Which  with  his  tincture  (for  thy  sake) 

Will  not  grow  bright  and  clean. 

A    servant    with    this    clause 

Makes  drudgery  divine. 
Who  sweeps  a  room  as  for  thy  laws 

Makes  that  and  the  action  fine. 

This  is  the   famous   stone 

That    turneth   all   to    gold; 
For  that  which  God  doth  touch  and  own 

Cannot  for  less  be  told. 

This  introduces  the  third  interpretation  of  which 
the  text  seems  susceptible.  The  manifestation  of  the 
Spirit  is  given  to  every  man  to  profit  withal,  not  only 
in  the  sense  that  men,  collectively  and  individually, 
may  be  profited  by  it ;  but  that  all  ought  to  be  profited 
by  it, — that  all  are  under  obligation  to  make  it 
profitable.  According  to  the  passages  following  our 
text,  this  is  to  be  done,  first,  through  performing 
the  duty  allotted  to  us ;  and,  second,  through  having 
charity  for  those  who  are  performing,  in  a  different 
place  and  way,  the  duties  allotted  them.  ' '  The  mani- 
festation of  the  Spirit,"  says  the  Apostle,  "is  given 
to  every  man  to  profit  withal.  .  .  .  All  these 
worketh  that  one  and  the  self  same  Spirit,  dividing 
to  every  man  severally  as  he  will.  .  .  .  For  the 
body  is  not  one  member  but  many.  ...  If  the 
whole  body  were  an  eye,  where  were  the  hearing ;  if 
the  whole  were  hearing,  where  were  the  smelling? 
But  now  hath  God  set  the  members,  every  one  of 
them,  in  the  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him.     .     .     . 


282       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

The  eye  cannot  say  nnto  the  hand,  I  have  no  need 
of  thee;  nor  again  the  head  to  the  feet,  I  have  no 
need  of  you.  .  .  .  And  God  hath  set  some  in 
the  church ;  first,  Apostles.  .  .  .  Are  all  apostles 
.  .  .  are  all  teachers  .  .  .  have  all  the  gifts 
of  healing ;  do  all  speak  with  tongues ;  do  all  inter- 
pret?— But  covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts,"  i.  e., 
strive  in  your  own  line,  without  neglecting  that 
which  is  your  duty,  to  better  your  own  condition, 
"covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts;  and  yet  show  I  unto 
you  a  more  excellent  way.  Tho  I  speak  with  the 
tongues  of  men  and  of  angels  and  have  not  charity, 
I  am  become  as  sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling 
cymbal. ' ' 

The  way,  then,  in  which  we  should  profit  by  the 
fact  that  the  spirit  manifests  itself  in  different  forms 
of  life — in  society,  the  state  and  the  church,  wherever 
it  may  be — is,  first,  through  doing  the  duty  allotted 
to  us ;  and,  second,  through  having  charity  for  those 
who  are  doing,  in  a  different  place  and  way,  the 
duties  allotted  to  them.  Think  how  unlike  this 
method  is  to  the  one  most  frequently  adopted  in  life. 
Nothing  in  the  world  is  perfect.  Everything,  at 
times,  goes  awry.  When  this  fact  becomes  appar- 
ent with  reference  to  any  particular  condition  with 
which  one  has  to  do,  think  how  many  people  are 
always  springing  up  to  tell  him  two  things, — first, 
not  to  work  in  the  place  where  he  is,  and,  second, 
not  to  have  any  charity  for  others  working  in  the 
places  where  they  are.  The  striker,  for  instance, 
first  stops  working  even  in  places  where  not  to  work 


SOCIALISTIC    PROBLEMS  283 

may  deprive  others  of  fuel  and  food;  and  then  he 
tries  to  stop  others  from  working, — sometimes  an 
employee  who  has  a  family  dependent  on  his  wages, 
and  sometimes  an  employer  who  has  property  de- 
pendent on  the  strikers'  work.  The  result,  so  far 
as  it  leads  to  violence,  usually  leads  to  failure.  Nor 
does  the  professed  reformer  often  act  more  wisely. 
Look  at  his  latest  achievement  in  our  own  country.1 
The  negro  had  been  a  slave.  In  that  condition  he 
had  necessarily  acquired  certain  servile  traits.  It 
was  important  to  cure  him  of  these  traits;  but  how? 
A  wise  man,  it  seems  to  me,  would  have  said,  treat 
him  like  a  human  being,  a  child, — educate,  enlighten, 
train  him,  allow  him  to  work  where,  how  and  when 
he  chooses,  and  gradually  fit  him  for  citizenship,  and, 
when  fitted,  give  it  to  him.  But,  instead  of  this,  the 
reformer  said,  "No;  make  him  a  ruler  at  once  with- 
out any  preparation;  give  him  a  vote,  and  tell  him 
to  fight  for  it,  if  it  be  denied  him. ' '  So  the  reformer 
did  his  best  to  induce  the  negro  not  to  work  in  the 
place  where  he  was ;  and  not  to  exercise  charity  for 
others  working  in  the  places  where  he  wanted  to  be ; 
and,  in  this  way,  the  reformer  has  started  conditions 
that  for  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  to  come  may  lead 
to  discontent,  disorder,  riot,  and  possibly  war.  The 
same  sort  of  action  is  sometimes  advocated  in 
churches.  Certain  of  their  members  manifest  incon- 
siderateness,  jealousy,  discourtesy,  contention,  en- 
mity. What  is  needed?  More  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 
What  is  tried?    Some  of  the  people  cease  to  work  in 

'The  condition  in  1870. 


284      SUGGESTIONS  FOE  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

the  place  where  they  are.  Then,  after  a  little,  they 
leave  their  own  church,  and  join  another;  Baptists 
or  Methodists  become  Presbyterians  or  Episcopal- 
ians, or  they  leave  one  strong  church  for  another  of 
their  own  denomination,  and  make  two  weak  ones; 
and  they  prefer  to  do  this,  because,  in  a  weak  com- 
munion, they  themselves  can  appear  to  be  strong 
as  compared  with  things  about  them.  The  truth  is 
that  the  day  laborer,  the  negro,  or  the  church  mem- 
ber, who,  notwithstanding  unfavorable  conditions  in 
the  place  in  which  he  finds  himself,  continues,  just 
then  and  there,  to  do  his  duty,  so  far  as  concerns 
his  obligations  to  further  the  welfare  of  others  as 
well  as  of  himself, — he  is  the  one  who,  as  a  rule,  is 
doing  the  most  for  his  fellow-laborer,  his  race,  and 
his  religion, — far  more  good  than  is  possible  to  the 
man  whose  jealous  discontent,  not  to  say  anything 
of  his  self-seeking  emulation,  is  merely  trying,  irre- 
spective of  obligations  to  others,  to  get  out  of  one 
place  and  into  another.  But,  you  ask,  is  not  getting 
out  of  one  place  and  into  another  important  for  the 
development  of  the  individual  and  of  the  world? 
Certainly ;  but  if  a  young  man — a  crown  prince,  say 
— wants  to  be  at  the  head  of  a  family  or  a  kingdom, 
it  is  more  important  for  both  of  these,  as  well  as  for 
himself,  that  he  should  wait  until  he  gets  an  educa- 
tion or  other  needed  experience,  than  that  he  should 
start  out,  at  once,  to  assassinate  his  father.  Aside, 
too,  from  waiting  till  the  old  men  die,  there  are  other 
legitimate  ways  of  rising  in  the  world.  Patient  dili- 
gence, alertness,  persistence,  and  making  one's  self 


SOCIALISTIC   PROBLEMS  285 

indispensable  can  usually  bring  success  without  one's 
need  of  ignoring  his  obligations  to  others.  Even  if 
such  were  not  the  case,  it  would  be  better  never  to 
rise  at  all  than  to  do  so  at  the  expense  of  a  mad 
scramble,  trampling  into  an  early  grave  conditions 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  one's  fellows  as  well  as  to 
the  salvation  of  one's  own  soul.  This  is  the  same 
as  to  say  that  it  makes  a  great  difference  what,  when 
one  is  trying  to  rise  in  life,  is  the  motive  that 
actuates  him,  whether  he  be  moved  by  a  selfish  dis- 
content with  his  own  condition,  or  by  a  generous  pur- 
pose to  benefit  the  condition  of  all ;  whether  he  seek 
the  change  in  order  ruthlessly  to  further  his  own 
personal  interest,  or  to  further  the  possibility  of  that 
manifestation  of  the  Spirit  which  is  given  to  every 
man  to  profit  withal.  A  man's  motive  must  be  con- 
sidered. But  how,  you  may  ask,  are  we  to  determine 
his  motive?  How? — At  times,  by  exercising  our  com- 
mon sense,  and  our  knowledge  of  human  nature.  At 
other  times,  and  very  frequently,  in  no  way  at  all. 
Only  God,  who  can  look  upon  the  naked  heart,  can 
determine  motives  infallibly.  Two  men  may  advocate 
the  same  measure  in  almost  the  same  language;  the 
one  may  be  a  humanitarian,  and  the  other  a  hypo- 
crite ;  the  one  a  philanthropist,  and  the  other  a  syco- 
phant ;  the  one  a  religious  man,  and  the  other  a  ras- 
cal. In  all  departments  where  there  are  laborers,  by 
and  by,  at  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  to  select  his 
own,  two  shall  be  in  the  same  field,  working  side  by 
side ;  the  one  shall  be  taken1  and  the  other  left.  These 

1  Mat.  24:40. 


286       SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

facts  furnish  only  additional  illustrations  of  the 
great  truth  indicated  everywhere  in  the  Scriptures, 
namely,  that  there  is  no  external  test  invariably  ap- 
plicable to  determine  the  quality  of  human  actions. 
This,  indeed,  is  one  reason  why  one's  place  or  posi- 
tion in  life,  as  I  have  been  trying  to  show  this  morn- 
ing, is  so  unimportant.  There  is  no  occupation  or 
organization  with  which  men  may  be  connected, 
whether  they  be  in  a  political  party,  a  reformatory 
association,  or  a  church, — there  is  nothing  of  this 
kind,  nor  any  enthusiasm  that  they  may  show  in 
furthering  the  interests  of  anything  of  the  kind,  that 
can  determine  their  position  with  God.  To  Him 
every  one  of  us,  individually,  irrespective  of  where 
we  are  or  with  whom  we  are,  must  give  an  account 
of 1  himself.  This  is  an  additional  reason,  as  you  see, 
why,  as  an  individual,  one  should  have  diligence 
in  the  place  where  Providence  has  put  him,  and,  in- 
asmuch as  he  never  can  interpret  another's  motive, 
should  have  charity  for  those,  whether  apparently 
above  him  or  below  him,  who  are  working  in  their 
own  way  in  some  other  place. 

I  cannot  close  this  discussion  without  directing 
your  attention  to  the  degree  in  which  it  confirms  the 
opinion  of  those  who  believe  that  the  only  perma- 
nent cure  for  social  evils  must  be  effected  through 
religion.  When  using  the  word  religion  in  such 
connections,  I  never  mean  dogmatism  or  ritualism. 
If  I  did,  I  should  not  use  the  term  religion.  I  mean 
by  the  word  the  expression  and  embodiment  in  the 

'Rom.  14:  12. 


SOCIALISTIC   PROBLEMS  287 

common  affairs  of  every-day  life  of  faith  in  God  and 
charity  toward  man.  If  our  communities  could  only 
be  persuaded  to  act  according  to  the  principle  that 
I  have  been  trying  to  unfold  this  morning,  with  how 
many  of  the  causes  of  envy,  strife,  sorrow  and  suf- 
fering would  it  do  away !  Meanwhile,  you  and  I  can 
help  on  the  good  time  by,  each  of  us,  doing  individ- 
ually what  we  can  to  forward  it.  Let  us  believe, 
whatever  may  be  our  position  in  life,  that  the  Infinite 
Presence  cannot  be  absent  from  us  wherever  we 
may  be.  No  matter  what  others  may  think  of  our 
station  or  service,  just  in  front  of  us  is  work  to  do. 
Our  feeble  sight  may  detect  in  it  nothing  beautiful, 
yet,  to  the  eyes  that  heaven  has  opened,  it  may  be 
radiant  with  celestial  glory.  Let  us  remember  that 
the  Master  himself,  when  he  started  upon  his  ca- 
reer, was  among  the  number  of  the  weary  and  the 
heavy  laden.  From  that  number,  too,  he  chose  his 
earliest  followers.  So  far  was  he  removed  from  in- 
tercourse with  those  who  were  robed  in  the  purple 
of  the  rich  or  crowned  with  the  diadems  of  the  royal, 
that  the  only  occasion  upon  which  he  was  ever  in- 
vested with  a  semblance  of  either  was  brought  about 
at  the  instigation  of  malice,  and  greeted  with  the 
howls  of  mockery.  "Blessed  are  the  poor1  in 
Spirit,"  he  said,  "for  theirs  is  the  Kingdom  of 
heaven.  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for  they  shall 
be  comforted;  blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall 
inherit  the  earth."  Ah,  friends,  if  the  poverty,  the 
sorrow,  the  humiliation  of  the  forms  of  life,  allotted 

1  Mat.  5  :  3-5. 


288       SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

to  us  teach  ns  to  look  away  from  these  forms  them- 
selves, and  to  look  back  of  them  to  that  which  is  caus- 
ing all  things  "to  work1  together  for  good  to  them 
that  love  God";  if  they  lead  us  to  look  back  to  that 
spirit  of  love  manifested  and  crucified  in  the  Christ, 
till  we  acknowledge  the  claims  of  God  upon  our  whole 
heart's  devotion,  little  matter,  so  long  as  the  soul 
prospers,  what  may  be  our  position  or  occupation 
for  a  few  years  in  this  life  here.  If  only  the  burden 
of  existence  press  down  so  heavily  upon  us  as  to 
bring  us  upon  our  knees  before  God,  thank  him! 
If  only  the  floods  of  sorrow  overwhelm  us  until, 
through  our  streaming  eyes,  the  temptations  of  the 
world  grow  dim  and  unalluring,  thank  him!  If  the 
doors  of  all  the  culture  and  the  comfort  that  our 
tasks  might  crave  be  barred  against  us,  till  beneath 
the  gloom  and  the  tempest  of  a  midnight  sky  our 
souls  are  thrilled  with  joy  to  catch  the  twinkling 
of  a  single  star,  thank  him ! 

And  looking  up  to  him,  and  looking  out  for  him, 
in  all  our  labors,  do  you  think  that  we  can  fail  to 
find  him  everywhere? — in  every  cause  that  can  en- 
list our  interest ;  and  working  with  all  the  comrades 
laboring  at  our  side  whom  his  commission  glorifies, 
no  matter  what  their  station !  You  learned  and  rich 
men,  do  you  despise  the  ignorant,  and  the  poor!  Ah, 
could  you  see  them  with  the  spiritual  eyes  above, 
you  might  find  everyone  surrounded  by  a  halo  blaz- 
ing with  reflected  light,  bright  as  an  angel-messen- 
ger luring  you  to  share  with  him,  as  the  great  Master 

1  Kom.  8  :  28.  » 


SOCIALISTIC   PROBLEMS  289 

did  with  all  of  us,  your  wisdom  and  your  wealth! 
You,  too,  who  seem  to  have  been  bereft  of  every 
opportunity  for  gaining  influence  or  fortune,  are 
you  tempted  into  envy  or  maliciousness  toward 
others  whom  this  world  esteems  your  betters? 
Could  you,  in  your  turn,  look  on  them  with  the 
spiritual  eyes  of  those  above,  you  might  perceive 
them  not  as  mere  repressors  or  dictators,  obstruct- 
ing effort  and  denying  recognition,  but  as  needed 
overseers  and  trainers  disciplining  life  according  to 
the  way  most  certain  to  develop  that  humility  and 
patient  acquiescence  in  the  orderings  of  Providence 
which  alone  best  fit  the  spirit  to  accept  with  wisdom 
and  receive  with  profit  "every  good 1  and  every  per- 
fect gift."  Shame  on  us,  friends,  what  are  we  think- 
ing of  amid  despondencies  and  doubts  and  murmur- 
ings?  What  are  we  thinking  of  but  ourselves? — our- 
selves, when  the  Christ  came  from  heaven  to  suffer 
and  to  die  that  he  might  bring  us  love,  and  free  us 
from  ourselves !  Ourselves,  when  the  Spirit  of  God, 
with  the  keys  of  all  the  universe  in  his  grasp,  comes 
calling  to  our  inefficient,  groveling  energies, ' '  whoso- 
ever will2  let  him  take  freely"!  Up,  up,  friends, 
up,  till  we  have  learned  to  look  at  all  things  from 
the  highest  view-point!  When  we  have  once  done 
that,  no  place  on  earth,  no  station  where  we  may  be 
put — nothing  within  the  bounds  of  these  material 
skies — can  have  substantiality  enough  to  wall  the 
spirit  out  of  its  inheritance. 

1  James   1  :  17.  3  Rev.   22  :  17. 


XIX 

CIVIL  LIBERTY  AS  A  EESULT  OF  CHRISTIAN 

CIVILIZATION 

' '  Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty. ' ' — 2  Cor.  3  :  17. 

The  arrangements  of  nature  are  complete  and 
harmonious  in  every  particular.  We  find  in  them 
no  partial,  one-sided,  over-balancing  developments. 
All  is  in  equipoise.  There  is  never  created  a  desire 
in  any  man,  without  the  creation  also  of  something 
to  assuage  it.  There  is  never  an  aspiration,  craving 
for  something  noble,  without  also  a  method  by  which 
the  object  of  the  aspiration  may  be  gained.  Accord- 
ingly, when  we  look  back  into  history  and  hear  of 
one  purpose,  echoed  steadily  along  the  whole  past, 
and  projected  out  through  the  misty  future,  we  can 
believe,  almost  without  investigation,  that  what  we 
call  revelation  will  have  something  to  say  about  it. 
Liberty  has  been  the  rallying  cry  of  civilization.  It 
would  be  strange  if  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
progress  of  Christianity,  which  has  marched,  breast 
to  breast,  with  civilization  all  through  such  a  large 
part  of  the  brightening  highway  of  time. 

And  when  we  turn  to  the  Scriptures,  we  do  not 
find  ourselves  mistaken.  From  Genesis  to  the  Rev- 
elation we  read  of  the  progress  of  a  plan  for  liberty. 

290 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  LI  BE  El  V  291 

For  this,  apparently,  man  was  made  in  the  image 
of  his  Maker,  the  law  was  given  to  Moses,  Jesus 
Christ  suffered  and  died,  and  heaven  is  promised. 
It  is  a  beautiful  picture.  All  the  world  struggling  up 
through  the  darkness  of  the  weary  years  on  the  one 
hand.  On  the  other  hand,  a  loving  God  crowning 
the  summit  of  their  hopes  with  light  to  guide  through 
the  dangers  and  to  insure  success. 

The  Bible  claims  to  be  an  inspired  record  of  the 
development  of  good  and  evil  in  the  world.  It  is, 
besides  this,  and  from  this  very  fact,  a  record  of 
the  respective  developments  of  liberty  and  bondage. 
Our  first  parents  sinned,  and  felt  the  earliest  in- 
fringement of  liberty  from  the  sword 1  flaming  at 
the  garden  gate.  Cain  murdered  his  brother,  and 
was  banished  2  from  his  fellows.  The  men  at  Babel 3 
became  presumptuous,  quarreled,  and  separated; 
and  the  sphere  of  freedom  was  contracted  to  the 
limits  of  isolated  races  with  different  languages  and 
customs.  The  license  of  crime  in  all  these  cases  had 
rendered  freedom  no  longer  a  safe  possession.  On 
the  contrary,  on  condition  of  obedience,  Abraham 4 
received  promise  of  becoming  the  founder  of  a  great, 
independent  nation.  When,  in  partial  fulfilment  of 
this  promise,  Israel  was  led  out  of  the  bondage  of 
Egypt,  the  prophecy  came  from  Sinai,  "If  ye  walk5 
in  my  statutes  and  keep  my  commandments  and  do 
them  ...  I  will  give  peace  in  the  land  and  ye 
shall  lie  down,  and  none  shall  make  you  afraid." 

^en.  3  :  24.  2  Gen.  4  :  8-14.  '  3Gen.  11  :  8,  9. 

*Gen.  17  :  1-8.  6Lev.  26  :  3-25. 


292       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

' '  But  if  ye  will  not  hearken  unto  me,  and  will  not  do 
all  these  commandments  ...  ye  shall  be  delivered 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy."  In  accordance  with 
these  statements,  the  long  wanderings  during  the 
days  of  the  Judges  were  punished  by  occasional  cap- 
tivity, and,  finally,  by  a  permanent  monarchy  sub- 
stituted for  the  previous  theocratic  and  represen- 
tative government.  When  still  further  wanderings 
had  brought  about  despotism  and  apparently  hope- 
less captivity,  the  prophets  were  careful  to  inform 
the  people  that  these  conditions  were  not  in  accord- 
ance with  the  divine  purposes.  "The  spirit  of  the 
Lord  God  is  upon  me,"  said  Isaiah  (61  : 1)  "because 
he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  unto 
the  meek,  he  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up  the  broken 
hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and 
the  opening  of  the  prisons  to  them  that  are  bound, 
to  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord."  And 
we  are  told  that  the  great  Master,  in  the  little  Syna- 
gogue at  Nazareth,  after  reading  the  same  words, 
closed  the  book,  saying, ' '  This  day 1  is  this  Scripture 
fulfilled  in  your  ears."  "Ye  have  been2  called," 
said  the  apostle  Paul  (years  later)  to  the  church,  "to 
liberty";  "stand  fast  in  the  liberty3  wherewith 
Christ  hath  made  us  free,"  let  all  enslaved  nations 
and  individuals  know  that  "where  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  is,  there  is  liberty." 

A  subject  so  intimately  connected  with  the  world's 
highest  interests  ought  to  command  the  attention  of 
those    who    would    become    either    enlightened    as 

1  Luke   4  :  16-21.  a  Gal.    5  :  13.  3  Gal.    5  :  1, 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  LIBERTY  293 

Christians  or  intelligent  as  citizens.  Let  us  then 
consider  this  subject  of  liberty,  what  it  is,  where  ob- 
tained, and  how  attainable.  I  think  that  it  can  be 
shown  that  all  personal,  political  and  civil  liberty  is 
the  same  as  what  we  mean  by  Christian  liberty ;  and 
that  all  Christianity  is,  from  its  very  nature,  eman- 
cipating. When  I  use  the  term  liberty,  I  mean  by  it 
what  all  understand — what  every  child  understands 
— by  it,  i.  e.,  the  ability  to  choose,  without  con- 
sciousness of  restraint.  I  say  without  consciousness 
of  restraint,  because  freedom  is  a  conscious  feeling. 
If  I  feel  no  restraint,  if  I  am  conscious  of  none,  I 
feel  free ;  I  have  liberty ;  if  I  held  the  whole  universe 
in  my  grasp,  I  could  have  no  more  of  it.  The  ability 
to  choose  without  consciousness  of  restraint  is  lib- 
erty. If  now  we  take  this  statement  and  enlarge 
it  so  as  to  include  all  the  classes  of  objects  and 
occasions  upon  which  it  is  possible  to  exercise  choice, 
we  may  comprehend  the  whole  scope  of  personal  and 
civil  liberty  in  this  definition, — the  ability,  without 
consciousness  of  restraint,  to  choose  ends  and  means 
in  all  circumstances  of  time  and  place.  Ends  in- 
clude all  mental  or  material  things  which  we  may 
choose  to  possess.  Means  include  all  feelings, 
thoughts,  actions  or  objects  by  which  we  may  choose 
to  obtain  the  ends  or  to  preserve  them  when  ob- 
tained. These  two  together — ends  and  means — in- 
clude all  things  that  we  can  possibly  desire  or  do. 
And  time  extending  through  all  our  life,  and  space 
encircling  all  the  world  are  the  only  circumstances 
in  connection  with  which  we  can  desire  or  do  anv- 


294       SUGGESTIONS  FOE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

thing.  Whenever  then  restraints  from  each  of 
these  four  sources — ends,  means,  time  and  place — 
are  absent,  then,  and  not  till  then,  the  man  has 
liberty. 

"Where  now  is  this  liberty  to  be  obtained?  Let  us 
make  the  search,  and,  in  so  doing,  let  us  look  for  it, 
first,  in  our  external  circumstances,  as  members  of 
society,  as  citizens  of  nations;  and,  second,  in  our 
own  individual  natures. 

It  requires  no  argument  to  prove  that  there  are 
limitations  to  liberty  which  arise  solely  from  the  first 
of  these  sources, — from  the  relations  in  which  we 
stand  to  our  fellows,  from  the  fact  that  we  are  mem- 
bers of  society.  We  can  wish  for  few  things  which 
others  do  not  possess.  We  can  use  few  things  which 
others  do  not  need.  We  can  work  for  few  hours 
when  others  would  not  employ  us.  We  can  work  in 
few  places  from  which  others  would  not  crowd  us. 
Now  what  can  we  do  to  be  free?  There  are  only 
two  things  that  it  is  possible  to  do, — go  out  of  so- 
ciety altogether,  or  stay  in  it  and  reform  it.  Which 
course  should  a  man  adopt?  Should  he  go  out  of 
it,  to  some  lonely  island,  and  live  like  Selkirk? 
Should  he  find  liberty  there?  Undoubtedly,  he  might 
thus  obtain  liberty  in  some  particulars.  Limitations 
arising  from  the  presence  of  others  would  be  taken 
away.  But  there  would  still  be  left  limitations  aris- 
ing from  the  demands  of  his  own  nature,  not  so  eas- 
ily removed.  There  are  some  things  which  men 
universally,  and  from  the  very  necessity  of  their 
manhood,  instinctively  crave: — among  other  things, 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  LIBERTY  295 

absence  from  care,  and  presence  of  comfort  and  of 
friends.  Would  lie  find  these  ends  in  solitude?  No; 
nor  any  means  of  gaining  them; — not  if  he  should 
search  for  them  all  his  lifetime.  The  place  would 
be  a  prison, — horrible  as  a  prison  dooming  him  to 
chill  stones  and  clanking  chains,  and  sorrowful  cries. 
With  the  stormy  horizon  heaved  up  like  a  wall  about 
him,  the  cold  stars  welded  to  the  hollow  vault  above 
him,  the  ghost-like  waves  lashed  into  moaning  on 
the  lonesome  rocks,  the  forests  shifting  into  shades 
of  every  shape  to  dodge  and  fright  him,  the  winds 
chasing  him  with  the  wild  mockery  of  human  voices, 
— this  slave  of  imagination  and  despair,  with  no 
friend  to  welcome  or  encourage  him,  with  no  induce- 
ment, in  the  absence  of  men,  to  render  himself 
worthy  of  manhood,  is  not  the  one  to  whom  a  man 
with  a  tithe  of  sense  in  him,  would  turn  for  an  ex- 
emplification of  that  freedom,  which  is  only  valu- 
able in  the  degree  in  which  it  tends  to  make  one  feel 
that  he  is  a  son  of  God  and  a  brother  of  all  mankind. 
And  the  judgment  of  common  sense  on  this  point 
is  confirmed  by  the  records  of  common  practise. 
"The  liberty  of  your  deliberations  is  chained  down," 
said  Mirabeau  to  the  National  Assembly  near  the 
opening  of  the  French  Revolution.  "Liberty  is 
chained  down ! ' '  echoed  the  people ;  and  they  did  not 
scatter,  they  closed  up  together.  That  surging, 
roaring  mass,  which,  like  a  torrent,  swept  along 
the  frighted  streets,  and  quenched  beneath  its  hiss- 
ing tide,  the  flaming  guns  of  the  Ba stile  of  Paris 
gathered  all  its  concentration  and  power  from  the 


296       SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

cry  of  "Liberty!"  Every  repetition  of  the  cry 
swelled  the  forces  of  the  center,  and  shook  the  dis- 
tant springs  to  gather  fresh  re-enforcement.  The 
people  knew  that  to  procure  liberty,  was  to  unite; 
that  in  fellowship,  in  society  alone,  could  they  obtain 
their  desired  ideal. 

Back  then,  back  to  society  let  us  go  and  try  to 
obtain  liberty  there.  At  first  thought,  one  would 
not  deem  it  possible  to  do  so.  We  find  an  associa- 
tion of  individuals.  They  either  desire  a  different 
use  of  the  same  thing,  and  interfere  with  one  another 
in  trying  to  get,  hold  and  employ  it,  or  they  desire 
a  use  of  different  things ;  and,  separating  to  obtain 
these,  fail  because  others  will  not  assist  them.  To 
have  anything  like  perfect  liberty  in  a  community, 
it  seems  necessary  to  have  it  composed  of  individ- 
uals whose  aims  do  not  differ,  whose  desires  are 
harmonious;  so  that  when  one  chooses  an  end,  or 
means,  or  time,  or  place,  others,  far  from  interfering 
to  prevent,  or  refusing  to  assist,  will  desire  nothing 
more  than  to  have  him  get  his  choice.  It  is  evident 
that,  in  such  a  community,  the  individual  will  not 
feel  that  the  fact  of  being  surrounded  by  others  is 
limiting  his  freedom  with  consciousness  of  restraint. 
It  is  equally  evident  that  such  a  community  does  not 
exist  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  And  why  not? — Be- 
cause there  are  on  the  globe  no  sufficiently  disinter- 
ested individuals  to  compose  it.  Men  who  choose 
are  too  grasping  in  their  desires  not  to  interfere 
with  what  belongs  to  other  men.  And  those  who 
might  aid  one  another,  are  too  selfish  to  turn  from 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  LIBERTY  297 

their  own  schemes  in  order  to  do  so.  We  cannot 
find  liberty  in  a  community,  because  the  character 
of  the  individuals  composing  it  prevents  liberty.  In 
other  words,  liberty  in  a  community  depends,  not 
on  any  external  adjustments  at  all,  but  on  the  char- 
acter of  the  individuals  composing  it.  This  seems 
to  be  a  plain  deduction  of  reason. 

Now  let  us  prove  the  same  thing  by  a  fact.  Wher- 
ever men  whose  individual  action  is  not  dictated  by 
some  king,  chief  or  leader  come  together  and  form 
communities,  they  invariably  agree  upon  certain 
laws.  They  mutually  decide,  for  the  sake  of  the 
general  good,  to  limit  one  another  by  these ;  this  is 
a  universal,  it  seems  to  be  also  a  necessary,  fact. 
Those  whom  we  term  lawless  savages,  and  gangs 
of  thieves,  seem  to  be  as  strongly  convinced  of  its 
importance  as  the  wisest  statesmen.  Being  a  uni- 
versal and  necessary  fact,  it  is  natural  to  think  that 
it  has  its  rise  in  something  in  the  man,  and  not  in 
a  source  external  to  him;  in  other  words,  this  fact 
of  the  universal  prevalence  of  law  seems  to  indicate 
the  same  thing  that  we  have  already  proved  in  an- 
other way, — namely,  that  restrictions  of  liberty  in 
a  community  depend  not  upon  external  adjustments, 
but  on  the  character  of  the  individuals  composing  it. 

Let  us  examine  the  individual  then.  What  is  there 
within  him  which  makes  him  feel  the  necessity  of 
restraint?  I  answer,  an  exact  resemblance  to  the 
state  of  things  existing  outside  of  him.  We  find  here 
every  kind  of  limitation  which  our  previous  defini- 
tion of  liberty  excludes.  When  we  desire  certain  ends, 


298       SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 


j  i 


something  within  us  says :  ' '  No,  they  are  unlawful 
When  we  desire  certain  means,  something  within  us 
says:  "No,  they  are  unlawful."  When  we  desire 
certain  times  and  places  of  action,  something  within 
warns  us  against  them.  There  are  within  us.  then, 
laws  of  restraint.  And  not  only  so;  there  are  also 
penalties  for  violating  the  laws.  If  we  choose  the 
forbidden  end,  or  use  the  forbidden  means,  in  the 
time  or  place  against  which  we  have  been  warned, 
we  are  punished  by  stings  of  regret,  if  not  remorse. 
We  call  the  limiting  agent  conscience.  We  call  the 
character  of  things  that  it  forbids,  wrong.  But 
whatever  may  be  the  nature  of  the  agent  forbidding, 
or  of  the  things  forbidden,  both  are  always  recog- 
nized within  us.  A  very  superficial  man  is  he  then 
who  would  disorganize  society,  or  place  himself  at 
the  head  of  it,  thinking,  by  this  means,  to  escape  the 
feeling  of  obligation  to  law.  Let  him  look  into  his 
own  nature.  He  will  find  at  work  there  the  elements 
of  every  phase  of  mental  agony  which  external  bond- 
age could  inflict.  I  do  not  wonder  that,  both  in 
America  and  in  Europe,  men  with  liberty  upon  their 
lips,  but  self-seeking  in  their  hearts,  complain,  at 
times,  of  the  arbitrary  nature  of  what  is  often  just 
government,  and  try  to  break  away  from  it;  or  to 
change  it  to  the  detriment  of  those  who  live  under 
it.  No  man,  unless  he  be  unselfish — and  therefore  no 
mere  politician,  agitator,  or  demagogue — can  fail  to 
be  conscious  of  restraints  within  himself  and  outside 
himself.  He  speaks  the  truth.  He  does  feel  the 
chains  of  oppression.     Of  course,  that  old  serpent 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  LIBERTY  299 

of  evil  will  writhe — it  is  its  nature — of  course  that 
serpent  will  writhe  beneath  the  heel  of  even  the 
gentlest  tread  of  the  angel  of  duty  whenever  she 
comes  speeding  from  heaven  to  guide  toward  right 
her  earthly  wards.  The  truth  is  that  all  external 
laws  when  founded  on  principles  of  justice  are  man- 
dates that  apply  to  conduct  and  pursuits  previously 
forbidden  by  conscience.  It  is  only  where  this  is 
the  case  that  they  fulfil  the  ideal  of  a  wise  civil  gov- 
ernment, or  fulfil  the  ideal  of  moral  government. 
The  decalog  is  a  code  of  external  morality;  but,  if 
it  had  never  been  expressed  in  words,  the  principles 
of  universal  love  and  justice  underlying  it  would 
be  binding  on  the  conscience  so  far  as  it  were  en- 
lightened. Prohibitory  laws  are  the  reflex,  or  reiter- 
ation, of  laws  within  self.  Remove  from  the  in- 
dividual mind  the  consciousness  of  these  laws — in 
other  words,  the  consciousness  of  restraint  or  of  the 
need  of  it  in  certain  cases — and  there  would  be, 
and  could  be,  no  expression  of  such  restraint  in 
the  laws  of  civil  government.  These  laws  are 
made  by  men  in  order  to  prevent  some  other  man 
from  injuring  them  by  doing  exactly  the  evil  that 
they  themselves  are  conscious  of  desiring  to  do  to 
him. 

We  have  found  at  last,  then,  where  liberty  is  to 
be  obtained, — not  in  solitude,  for  there  the  man  suf- 
fers from  internal  restraints ; — not  in  society  by  ex- 
ternal reform,  for  there,  too,  it  is  internal  restraint 
that  is  the  source  of  limitation;  but  liberty  is  to  be 
obtained  in  the  mind  of  the  individual  who  feels  no 


300       SUGGESTIONS   FOB  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

consciousness  of  restraint  within  himself,  and  in  a 
community  composed  of  such  individuals. 

Now  can  we  ever  find  such  individuals?  I  think 
that  we  can, — those,  at  least,  approximating  to  such 
a  standard.  I  have  already  shown  that,  when  we 
have  no  feeling  that  conscience  restrains  us,  it  is  be- 
cause we  desire  to  do  right.  It  is  not,  mark  you, 
because  we  actually  do  right, — as  a  fact  we  do  not 
always  know,  especially  if  children  or  savages,  ex- 
actly what  the  right  is.  We  are  conscious  of  the 
restraints  of  conscience  at  times  when  we  know  that 
it  is  not  our  desire  to  do  right.  Now  what  is 
right?  Not  to  discuss  at  present,  whether  it  is  an 
absolute  principle  in  accordance  with  which  the  will 
of  the  Ruler  of  all  things  acts,  or  whether  it  is  orig- 
inated by  this  Ruler,  every  one  admits,  that  it  is 
anything,  everything  consistent  with  the  will  of  this 
Ruler.  Nothing  which,  in  the  slightest  degree,  de- 
viates from  it,  is  right.  And  no  one,  who  consciously 
deviates  from  it  in  his  conduct,  will  fail  to  feel  the 
rebukes  of  conscience.  Conscience  is  the  conscious- 
ness that  we  are  resisting  what  we  know  to  be  the 
law  of  right ;  and,  accordingly,  are  resisting  the  law 
of  the  Ruler  of  righteousness.  Now  if  to  feel  no 
conscience — that  is,  if  to  feel  no  consciousness  of 
restraint — be  to  desire  to  act  in  consistency  with 
the  will  of  the  supreme  Ruler,  i.  e.,  of  God,  then 
liberty  is  the  state  in  which  one  desires  to  act  in 
consistencv  with  his  will.  And  if  this  consciousness 
would  make  one  individual  feel  free,  it  would  make 
a  community  feel  free;  it  would  cause  all  men,  each 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  LIBERTY  301 

working  in  the  best  way  for  which  he  was  individ- 
ually fitted,  to  desire  the  same  general  result, — 
the  will  of  God.  Moreover,  it  would  cause  all  to 
live  in  harmony,  notwithstanding  every  possible  dif- 
ference in  character  and  choice.  It  would  do  this 
because  the  objects  of  God's  desire  must  be  infinite 
in  variety  and  degree.  There  could  be  no  lack  of 
supply  in  them  for  all  mankind,  and  for  all  the 
angels  and  arch-angels  of  heaven.  Any  other  reser- 
voir might  be  drained.  Any  other  objects  of  desire 
distributed  among  all  might  fail  to  satisfy  all.  But 
here  each  could  quaff  his  soul  to  the  full,  and  the 
ocean  of  God's  infinity  could  close  over  his  draughts 
without  the  loss  of  a  ripple.  The  masses  are  right. 
In  the  last  analysis,  liberty  and  happiness  are  iden- 
tical. Both  are  full  satisfaction,  freedom  from  all 
consciousness  of  restraint. 

Now  let  us  inquire  how  such  liberty  is  attainable. 
It  is  evident  that  a  man's  character  can  never  be- 
come consistent  with  the  will  of  God  until  he  comes 
to  know  and  love  God,  and  to  desire  to  do  his 
will.  God  must  reveal  himself  then.  According  to 
the  Christian  theory,  he  has  done  so  in  two  ways, — 
through  law  and  through  life,  and,  in  both  ways,  as 
regards  each  individual,  internally  and  also  exter- 
nally. Through  law,  God  is  revealed  to  us  in  con- 
science,— i.  e.,  in  that  which  is  written  upon  the 
heart,  and  also  revealed  through  moral  or  religious 
codes  like  the  decalog,  and  other  documents  written 
by  men  more  or  less  inspired.  Is  there  anything 
in   the   knowledge   of   God   imparted   through   law 


302       SUGGESTIONS   FOB   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

which  can  bring  a  conscious  freedom  from  restraint? 
Is  there  anything  in  the  nature  of  law  which  can  do 
this?  When  one  has  knowingly  sinned,  conscience 
inflicts  punishment.  When  one  has  knowingly  com- 
mitted crime,  the  government  inflicts  punishment. 
Is  there  anything  in  the  penalties  which  the  criminal 
feels,  to  bring  him  into  sympathy  with  law; — to  make 
him  wish  to  see  the  law  fulfilled?  No;  rather  than 
this,  the  effect  is  to  render  him  resentful,  to  instigate 
him  to  revolt,  and  to  make  him  bring  himself,  by  this 
method,  under  the  more  severe  condemnation  of  the 
law.  So  it  is  with  the  laws  of  God,  revealed  in  con- 
science, or  in  moral  or  religious  codes.  ' '  The  1  law, ' ' 
says  the  Apostle  Paul,  "worketh  wrath."  "When 
the  commandment 2  came,  sin  revived. ' '  The  knowl- 
edge of  law,  and  of  a  law-giver  only,  is  evidently 
not  that  knowledge  which  is  to  bring  us  into  sym- 
pathy with  either.  We  are  brought  into  this  sym- 
pathy by  the  kind  of  revelation  that  comes  through 
life, — through  life  experienced  in  ourselves,  and  per- 
ceived in  others ; — brought  into  it  through  the  inspi- 
ration of  what  we  all  recognize  to  be  the  good  Spirit 
working  within  us,  and  through  the  inspiration  of 
the  self-denying,  self-sacrificing  life  of  the  Christ 
and  of  his  true  followers  in  whom  we  recognize  in 
the  world  outside  of  us  an  incarnation  of  this  good 
Spirit.  "No  man  hath  seen3  God  at  any  time, 
the  only  begotten  son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  he  hath  declared  Him."  And  not  only  so. 
"For  me4  to  live,"   says   the  Apostle  Paul,   "is 

'Eom.  4  :  15.         2Rom.  7  :  9.         3  Jno.  1  :  18.         'Phil.  1  :  21. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  LIBERTY  303 

Christ."  We  love  the  Christ  and  the  Christian  on 
account  of  this  method  of  revelation.  When  we  love 
a  friend,  we  feel  free  with  him  because  we  have  no 
desire  to  go  contrary  to  his  wishes.  When  we  love 
the  great  Master,  and  the  God  whom  he  represents, 
we  feel  no  restraint  because  we  have  no  desire  to  go 
contrary  to  their  wishes.  Brought  into  sympathy 
with  them,  we  do  not  violate  our  moral  obligations. 
We  do  not  feel  conscience  limiting  us.  We  are 
scarcely  conscious  that  we  have  a  conscience.  We 
are  free.  God  revealed  in  law,  internal  and  external, 
may  excite  only  our  opposition.  God  revealed  in 
the  Christ  is  an  emancipator,  who  sets  men  free,  be- 
cause his  manifested  love  merges  their  wills  into 
unison  with  his  own.  They  have  liberty  because 
they  no  longer  feel  a  consciousness  of  restraint. 
Very  different  is  this,  as  you  will  notice,  from  that' 
which  is  true  of  those  who  are  satisfied  with  merely 
license.  These  break  the  laws  of  conscience  and  so- 
ciety in  spite  of  feeling  restraint.  Those  possessing 
liberty  cease  to  feel  any  restraint  at  all.  It  is  no 
longer  necessary;  because  the  laws  of  conscience, 
society,  state  or  church  are  perfectly  fulfilled.  The 
desire  to  have  them  fulfilled, — this  is  the  condition, 
and  the  only  condition  in  accordance  with  which 
conscious  freedom  is  possible. 

Our  text  shows  us — for  none  of  us  are  perfect — 
what  we  must  all  do  in  order  to  obtain  individual 
liberty.  "But  we  all,"  says  the  apostle  Paul  in 
2  Cor.  3  :  18,  "beholding,  as  in  a  glass,  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  are  changed  into  the  same  image  from 


304       SUGGESTIONS  FOR  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord." 
"Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  there  is  liberty." 
There  alone  is  that  perfect  love,  which  "casteth1 
out  fear,"  which  overcometh  the  law2  in  onr  mem- 
bers, warring  against  the  law  of  our  mind;  and 
bringing  us  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which 
is  in  our  members. 

The  text  shows  us  also  what  society  and  the  state 
must  do  in  order  to  obtain  liberty.  By  the  beacon 
of  the  ideal,  we  may  discern  the  direction  of  the  real. 
That  nations  are  free  only  when  individuals  are  free, 
is  no  more  true  than  that  nations  are  free  in  pro- 
portion as  individuals  are  free.  In  the  degree  in 
which  restraints  are  absent  from  the  personal  con- 
sciousness of  the  people,  in  that  degree  will  an  ab- 
sence of  restraint  be  expressed  in  the  laws  that  they 
make  for  one  another.  The  most  barbarous  and 
corrupt  rulers  and  governments  are,  universally,  the 
most  arbitrary.  The  path  to  civil  liberty  lies 
through  the  wake  of  individual  intelligence  and 
righteousness.  Any  state  or  ecclesiastic,  monarch- 
ical or  hierarchical  policy  which  fosters  ignorance 
and  superstition  by  necessity  fosters  rulers  who  can- 
not appreciate  free  government;  and  are  fitted  to 
control  only  slaves,  and  these  by  means  of  despotism. 
This  is  why  genuine  Christianity  with  its  emphasis 
upon  love  is  needed  by  the  world  that  it  may  be 
the  world's  civilizer;  why  Christian  education  is 
needed  that  it  may  be  the  world's  enlightener;  and 
why  Christian  statesmanship  is  needed  that,  borne 

ll  Jno.  4  :  18.  sKom.   7  :  23. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  LIBERTY  305 

along  on  the  resistless  undercurrent  of  eternal  truth, 
it  may  pilot  all  governments  toward  the  freedom  of 
the  millennium. 

But  let  us  not  trust  too  much  to  any  merely  human 
agencies.  So  long  as  the  spirit  of  bondage  is  pres- 
ent as  a  conscious  limiter  in  the  individual  heart, 
so  long  will  restless  humanity,  goaded  by  conscience 
and  striving  by  any  means,  right  or  false,  to  be  free, 
fling  aside,  with  equal  readiness,  monarchies  and  re- 
publics alike. 

There  is  a  meadow  in  a  lonely  place  between  high 
rocks  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Lucerne.  In  that  spot, 
five  hundred  years  ago,  one  still,  dark  evening,  three 
patriot  soldiers,  with  stout  blades  and  sturdy  hearts, 
met  to  spend  the  night  in  long  and  earnest  prayer 
to  God.  "Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  was,  there 
was  liberty";  and  Swiss  Independence  dates  from 
that  night.  "The  knowledge  of  the  Lord"  has,  not 
yet,  "filled  the  earth1  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea"; 
but  there  is  coming  a  time  when,  as  we  are  told,  it 
shall;  when  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  earth's  mon- 
archs  shall  become  the  absolutely  free  kingdoms  of 
our  spirits'  Ruler,  "the  Lord,2  and  of  his  Christ." 
Adam's  degenerate  sons,  banished  from  Paradise — 
i.  e.,  limited  in  liberty  on  account  of  sin — shall  again 
regain  it.  Along  the  pathway  of  the  world's  prog- 
ress, we  need  not  hear  alone  the  wails  of  woe  and 
the  clanking  chains  of  bondage;  we  need  not  see 
alone  the  flames  of  cherished  institutions,  and  the 
stifling  smoke  of  conflict.    Beyond  all  these,  there  is 

*Hab.   2  :  14.  »Rev.    11  :  15. 


306       SUGGESTIONS   FOR  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

a  stretch  of  heaven 's  own  blue.  There  is  a  gleam  of 
lofty  walls.  There  is  the  flashing  of  a  flaming  sword 
withdrawn.  Between  wide  open  gates,  there  waits 
for  all  the  garden. 


XX 

MEMORIALS  AND  MEETING  PLACES1 

"Then  the  Icing  said  unto  me,  'For  what  dost  thou  make  request?' 
So  I  prayed  to  the  God  of  heaven.  And  I  said  unto  the  Mng,  'If  it 
please  the  king,  and  if  thy  servant  have  found  favor  in  thy  sight, 
that  thou  wouldst  send  me  unto  Judah  unto  the  city  of  my  fathers' 
sepulchres  that  I  may  build  it.'  .  .  .  So  it  pleased  the  king  to 
send  me. ' ' — Nehemiah  2  :  parts  of  4,  5,  6. 

"And  (after  the  city  had  been  rebuilt)  all  the  people  gathered  them- 
selves together.  .  .  .  And  they  spake  unto  Esra  the  scribe  to 
bring  the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses.  .  .  .  And  Ezra  the  scribe 
stood  upon  a  pulpit  of  wood  which  they  had  made  for  the  purpose. 
.  .  .  And  Esra  opened  the  book  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people. 
.  .  .  And  Esra  blessed  the  Lord,  the  great  God.  And  all  the 
people  answered,  'Amen,  Amen.'  .  .  .  And  they  bowed  their 
heads  and  worshipped  the  Lord.  .  .  .  And  the  Levites  .  .  . 
read  in  the  book  in  the  law  of  God  distinctly,  and  gave  the  sense, 
and  caused  them  to  understand  the  reading;  .  .  .  and  the 
Levites  .  .  .  taught  the  people. ' ' — Neh.  8  :  parts  of  1,  4,  5,  6,  7, 
8,  9. 

As  we  look  back  into  history,  and  consider  the 
various  stages  through  which  races  have  emerged 
from  a  state  of  barbarism  and  passed  into  one  of 
civilization,  we  find  among  the  earliest  indications 
of  this  change  an  increased  attention  given  to  per- 
petuating the  memory  of  the  dead.  Among  people 
wholly  savage,  men  are  killed  upon  little  provoca- 
tion, and  their  bodies  are  left  to  decay  in  the  places 
where  they  fall.    Only  as  human  life  becomes  more 

1  Delivered,  on  Sunday,  February  25,  1883,  in  Darby,  Pennsyl- 
vania, at  the  dedication  of  a  Sunday-school  Chapel,  erected  to  the 
memory  of  Mr.  Matthew  Baird  and  Mrs.  Ann  Eliza  Baird  by  Charles 
O.  Baird,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  assisted  in  the  furnishing  of  the 
same  by  other  members  of  his  family. 

307 


308       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

sacred,  and  law  begins  to  protect  the  living,  are  the 
remains  of  the  non-living  protected  against  the  rav- 
ages of  sun  and  storm,  the  wild  beast  and  the  vulture. 
Many  years  later  than  this  something  is  done  to 
mark  the  place  in  which  the  dead  are  buried.  At 
first  mere  mounds  are  left,  such  as  naturally  result 
wherever  earth  that  has  been  removed  to  receive  the 
body  is  replaced.  Afterward  soil  or  stone  is  heaped 
up  to  form  an  artificial  mound,  as  by  some  of  our 
North  American  Indian  tribes.  Later  various  kinds 
of  boards  or  boulders  are  marked  in  such  a  way  as 
to  indicate  the  rank  or  name  of  the  departed.  But 
even  these,  at  first,  are  intended  to  remain  for  only 
a  few  years.  To-day  in  most  of  the  countries  bor- 
dering on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  where  the  people,  if  civilized,  are,  at  least,  not 
what  we  should  term  enlightened,  the  dead  are  bur- 
ied without  coffins,  and,  every  ten  or  twenty  years, 
the  burying  ground  is  plowed  over,  and  all  traces 
of  past  graves  are  obliterated.  But  wherever  there 
has  been  a  high  state  of  civilization,  as  in  Ancient 
Egypt,  Assyria,  Palestine,  India,  China,  Greece  and 
Rome,  there  we  find  still  existing  tombs  or  urns  once 
holding  corpses  or  their  ashes.  With  exception 
of  the  ruins  of  the  temples  still  to  be  seen,  the  re- 
mains of  these  memorials  of  the  dead  are  the  most 
universally  present  features  enabling  us  to-day  to 
come  to  an  understanding  of  the  characteristics  of 
these  people  who  so  long  ago  passed  away  from  the 
earth. 
There  are  those  in  our  own  country  imagining 


MEMORIALS   AND   MEETING   PLACES      309 

themselves  to  be  furthering  the  progress  of  man- 
kind, intellectually  and  socially,  and  to  be  adding 
to  that  which  is  to  give  renown  to  our  age,  who,  at 
the  same  time,  are  denying  the  possibility  of  having 
any  certain  grounds  of  assurance  with  reference  to 
the  existence  of  a  God,  or  of  the  soul  after  death. 
What  are  likely  to  be  the  effects  of  such  views  as 
these  upon  our  civilization,  or  upon  the  reputation 
which  it  will  have  in  the  remote  future  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact  that  almost  everything  pro- 
duced in  the  past  would  have  perished  from  the 
earth,  had  men  not  had  that  faith  in  their  gods  which 
led  them  to  erect  temples,  and  that  faith  in  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  which  led  them  to  erect  tombs. 
Faith  in  these  things  is  shown  not  alone  in  the  archi- 
tecture, but  in  the  sculpture  and  poetry  of  the  past, 
dealing  almost  exclusively,  as  much  of  the  latter 
did,  with  subjects  treating  of  the  gods  and  of  the 
life  beyond  the  present.  It  is  belief  in  these  that 
has  given  earthly,  if  not  heavenly,  immortality  to 
those  nations.  If  ever  the  influence  of  such  belief 
ceases  to  be  felt  among  us,  what  reason  have  we  to 
infer  that  the  influence  of  our  civilization  will  not 
cease  to  be  felt  among  the  nations  that  shall  come 
after  us?  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  individual  or 
community  is  ever  stimulated  to  the  noblest  and 
worthiest  achievement  except  as  individuals  in  it 
have  faith  in  the  possibility  of  attaining  the  highest 
and  holiest  goal. 

The  methods  of  perpetuating  the  memory  of  the 
dead  assumed  in  the  past  various  forms, — simple 


310      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

grave-stones,  elaborate  tombs  chiseled  in  the  sides 
of  hills,  lofty  monuments  and  even  pyramids  that  re- 
main to-day  among  the  foremost  wonders  of  the 
world.  Sometimes  the  physical  form,  after  life  had 
left  it,  was  embalmed  and  thus  kept  from  decay.  Our 
large  museums  all  contain  bodies  from  Egypt  that, 
having  been  thus  treated,  still  preserve  the  outlines 

that  they  had  when  in  life.  Sometimes  busts,  statues 
and  likenesses  of  many  different  kinds  served  to 
recall  the  lost  one  to  remembrance.  These  were 
prepared  usually  by  the  friends  of  the  deceased,  but 
often  the  rich  or  the  powerful,  before  they  died,  took 
pains  to  provide  for  themselves  that  their  memory 
should  not  perish.  And  what  more  natural  than 
that  men  should  wish  to  be  remembered?  It  is  cer- 
tainly as  natural  as  that  their  friends  should  wish 
to  have  them  remembered.  In  fact,  does  not  the 
same  general  tendency  of  thought  which  causes  us  to 
desire  to  exist  in  another  world,  cause  us  to  desire 
to  continue  to  be  known  as  having  existed  in  this 
world?  Is  it  not  the  soul  within  us — the  best  part 
of  us — that  craves  for  this  continuation  of  existence, 
if,  in  no  other  way,  in  the  memory  of  others  !  Think 
of  it: — What  has  inspired  to  the  noblest  efforts  in 
every  department  of  action, — military,  social  or  in- 
tellectual, as  well  as  religious, — what  has  animated 
the  zeal  of  the  patriot,  philanthropist,  philosopher  or 
poet,  as  well  as  preacher, — sent  soldiers  to  die  cheer- 
fully for  their  country  on  the  battlefield,  consoled 
the  hearts  of  reformers  when  all  forsook  them  and 
fled,  made  the  leaders  in  new  opinions  defiant  in  the 


MEMORIALS    AND    MEETING   PLACES      311 

face  of  imprisonment  and  persecution,  as  well  as 
rendered  the  martyrs  triumphant  at  the  stake, — 
what  has  done  all  this?  Nay,  let  me  put  it  differ- 
ently,— what  could  have  done  all  this,  if  man  had 
been  so  constituted  as  not  to  care  for  anything  on 
earth  beyond  the  time  of  his  own  existence  on  it? 
In  those  circumstances,  would  any  one  ever  have 
been  willing  to  die  for  his  country,  his  fellow-men, 
his  opinions,  or  his  religion?  I  hardly  think  so. 
Indeed,  I  think  that  any  desire  to  continue  to  be 
remembered  is  intimately  connected  with  all  within 
us  that  is  most  elevating.  More  largely,  perhaps, 
than  any  of  us  supposes,  it  is  for  the  sake  of  reputa- 
tion after  death  that  every  person  in  mature  life, 
from  the  humblest  parent  in  the  household  to  the 
haughtiest  prince  on  his  throne,  strives  while  he 
lives  to  live  to  some  effect. 

It  is  not  merely,  however,  the  wish  to  be  remem- 
bered that  is  felt,  but  also  the  wish  to  continue  to 
be  influential, — the  wish  to  continue  to  produce  the 
effect  of  being  on  the  earth,  even  tho  one's  physical 
form  has  been  removed  from  it.  A.  T.  Stewart,  the 
merchant  prince  of  New  .York,  did  not  leave  the 
bulk  of  his  money  for  a  monument  of  marble  to  be 
erected  to  his  name,  but  for  his  business-house,  in 
order  that  the  work  that  he  had  done  for  so  many 
years  might  continue  to  be  done  in  his  name,  as  he 
hoped,  for  centuries.  Shakespeare,  Raphael,  Wash- 
ington, Luther, — what  memorial  do  you  think  that 
they  would  have  wished  in  their  day,  had  they  been 
consulted? — Believe   me,   nothing   better   than   the 


312       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

writings,  paintings,  free  country,  and  reformed 
church  which  to-day  continue  to  perpetuate  their 
influence. 

So  I  infer  that  the  memorials  most  desired  by 
those  who  have  passed  from  earth,  and  most  worthy 
to  be  erected  by  the  one  who  remains  behind  them, 
are  such  as  perpetuate  their  influence.  Tomb  or 
statue  may  do  this  to  some  extent  by  recalling  their 
living  presence  to  memory,  but  it  can  be  done  more 
effectively  when  the  man's  possibilities  of  action  are 
embodied  in  some  form  in  which  they  shall  still  con- 
tinue to  act, — as  words  do  when  printed  in  books 
that  speak  to  future  readers,  as  deeds  do  when  in- 
corporated into  institutions  of  learning  and  philan- 
thropy that  continue  to  enlighten  ignorance  and  to 
hold  out  helping  hands  to  the  suffering.  In  what 
nobler  way  then  could  one  conceive  of  perpetuating 
the  influence  of  those  who  have  been  loved — what 
way  more  gratifying  to  the  spirits  of  the  departed — 
than  in  erecting  a  memorial  building  like  this,  for 
*  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  designed? 

Suppose  that  we  take  the  very  lowest  view  of  the 
objects  of  such  a  building, — as  a  place  in  which,  once 
every  week,  those  who  are  growing  up  into  manhood 
and  womanhood  can  come  together  and  look  at  one 
another.  If  no  more  than  this  were  done  here,  there 
would  be  an  immense  influence  for  good  going  forth 
from  this  place.  Did  you  ever  think  what  a  civiliz- 
ing agency  association,  aside  from  anything  else,  is? 
Take  a  hermit  who  lives  all  alone  in  a  cave  or  on  a 
mountain ;  take  a  tramp  who  spends  his  life  in  jour- 


MEMORIALS   AND    MEETING    PLACES        313 

neying  all  alone  over  the  country, — his  hands,  feet, 
face,  are  always  dirty,  his  hair  tangled,  his  clothing 
in  rags.  And  not  only  so.  The  mind  inside  of  his 
body  is  no  clearer  than  his  skin,  his  thoughts  are  as 
tangled  as  his  hair,  his  whole  intellectual  and  moral 
nature  as  much  in  rags  as  his  clothing,  his  judgment 
on  any  practical  subject  whatever  as  worthless  as 
his  wardrobe.  What  is  the  use  of  a  man's  keeping 
his  body  clean  and  his  wits  bright  unless  there  be 
some  inducement  to  do  so — some  one  to  look  at  him 
and  hear  him,  live  with  him  and  talk  with  him,  work 
with  him  and  care  for  him?  Put  one  man  beside  the 
hermit,  and  there  will  be  a  beginning  there  of  civili- 
zation; put  six,  a  dozen,  a  score,  and  there  will  be 
a  market,  at  once,  for  collars,  neckties,  handker- 
chiefs. Not  only  so,  there  will  be  conversation,  cu- 
riosity, information,  emulation,  the  friction  of  mind 
against  mind  that  strikes  intellectual  fire  and  brings 
moral  enlightenment.  Civilization ! — The  very  word 
comes  from  the  Latin  word  civis,  that  means  a  city; 
and  a  city  is  a  place  where  people  come  together, 
and,  where  they  do  this,  there  only  they  learn  to  be 
civil,  and  this  they  never  can  be,  in  the  highest  sense, 
unless  they  first  become  sympathetic,  thoughtful, 
charitable.  So  it  is  a  great  thing  for  people  to  come 
together. 

But,  even  in  a  city,  they  may  shut  themselves  in 
their  own  houses,  so  as  to  live  almost  like  hermits. 
It  is  a  great  thing,  therefore,  for  them  to  believe 
that  they  ought  to  come  together  as  a  matter  of 
no  more,  say,  than  of  form,  at  least  once  a  week, 


314      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

in  a  place  like  this,  even  if  they  do  no  more,  when 
they  get  here,  than  sit  and  look  at  one  another,  as 
our  neighbors,  the  Friends,  do  on  their  dull  days. 
Ah,  if  some  of  us  would  only  be  contented  to  sit 
still,  and  look  at  the  human  beings  about  us  long 
enough  to  take  in  what  they  are,  and  what  are  our 
responsibilities  to  them,  remembering  that  the  Lord 
has  said,  "Inasmuch1  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one 
of  the  least  of  these,  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it 
unto  me, ' '  we  should  have  about  all  that  we  could  do 
well  in  trying  to  live  true  to  the  wisdom  that  we 
had  gained  in  this  way!  However,  tho  some  of  us 
fail  to  improve  as  much  as  we  might  by  coming  to- 
gether, we  all  do  improve  some.  And  most  of  us 
do  this,  too,  before  we  have  begun  to  follow  out  a 
single  requirement  that,  so  far  as  we  are  conscious, 
is  a  religious  one.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Bible, 
for  instance,  that  tells  us  that  we  should  wash  our 
hands  and  faces  and  put  on  clean  clothes  in  which 
to  go  to  church  and  school  on  Sundays.  Yet  we  all 
do  it.  And  we  feel  better— more  civilized — after 
we  have  done  it.  And  when  we  come  together  and 
gaze  around  us  upon  others  who  have  done  the  same, 
human  life  seems  more  sweet  and  beautiful  than  it 
did  in  the  field  and  in  the  workshop.  And  do  you 
think  that  that  can  do  no  good?  No  good? — Talk 
about  the  refining  influences  of  art !  There  are  times 
when  an  ordinary  church  or  Sunday  School,  to  one 
who  looks  about  him  and  succeeds  in  keeping  his 
eyes  open,  is  more  inspiring  to  the  soul,  is  more 

1  Mat.  25  :  40. 


MEMORIALS    AND   MEETING   PLACES       315 

like  heaven,  in  its  influence,  than  the  grandest  pic- 
ture or  statue  of  an  angel  or  a  god  that  was  ever 
painted  or  chiseled.  And  yet  there  are  some  in  our 
day  who  would  like  to  abolish  the  service  of  the 
church  and  the  Sunday  School — even  Sunday  itself. 
Every  man  to  his  taste !  There  are  some  who  would 
like  to  abolish  soap.  The  longest  step  that  civiliza- 
tion ever  took  in  that  direction  would  be  taken  upon 
the  day  in  which  the  Sunday  School  was  abolished. 
But  I  must  hurry  on.  When  you  assemble  in  this 
place,  you  are  not  only  going  to  be  together ;  you  in- 
tend to  do  something  together, — for  instance,  to  sing 
together.  Do  you  know  that  there  is  a  theory  that 
the  tendency  of  singing  is  to  cause  the  hearts  and 
pulses  of  all  those  joining  in  the  music,  even  listen- 
ing to  it,  to  beat  in  unison? — to  cause  the  currents 
of  life  in  the  veins,  nerves,  brains,  even  souls  of 
those  affected  by  it,  to  move  according  to  similar 
methods? — in  fact,  to  produce  an  inner  as  well  as 
an  outer  harmony?  I  am  not  intending  to  argue  or 
to  confirm  this  theory,  but  I  will  assert  this  much, — 
that  wherever  a  number  of  people  utter  the  same 
words  together,  think  the  same  thoughts  together, 
do  the  same  things  together,  as  will  be  done  in  this 
place,  at  least,  for  one  hour  every  week,  in  the  way 
not  only  of  singing,  but  of  praying,  reading  and 
studying,  the  tendency  is  to  bring  them  into  sym- 
pathy with  one  another.  And  wherever  one  soul  is 
brought  into  sympathy  with  one  other — not  to  speak 
of  many — that  soul  is  brought  nearer  to  heaven.  Of 
course,  it  must  be  so,  for  sympathy  is  love.     And 


316       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

while  "he  that  loveth  not  knoweth  not  God,1  for 
God  is  love,"  "if  we  love'  one  another,  God  dwelleth 
in  us,  and  his  love  is  perfected  in  us." 

And  even  yet,  you  see,  friends,  I  have  failed  to 
speak  of  anything  except  the  indirect  influence  that 
can  be  exerted  by  a  building  such  as  this,  and  by 
the  exercises  for  which  it  is  designed.  I  have  failed 
to  do  this  for  a  very  good  reason.  There  was  no 
necessity  for  it.  All  the  time  that  you  have  been 
sitting  here  this  morning  most  of  you  have  been 
thinking  about  this  direct  influence — if  not  wonder- 
ing whether  I  should  ever  get  to  it ; — about  the  qual- 
ity of  the  truth  that  you  intend  to  have  imparted 
here,  about  the  spiritual  effect  that  you  hope  that  it 
will  exert  in  regenerating  and  converting  souls  and 
preparing  thousands,  perhaps,  who  shall  meet  here, 
for  usefulness  and  blessedness  in  this  world  and  in 
the  world  to  come.  May  all  your  expectations  in 
this  regard  be  realized !  May  this  building,  with  its 
attractive  proportions,  so  aptly  fitted  for  the  work, 
accomplish  all  for  which  it  is  designed, — be  a  center 
not  only  of  refinement  and  culture,  social,  intellectual 
and  moral,  but,  crowning  all,  of  spiritual  benefit.  In 
the  degree  in  which  it  proves  to  be  this,  the  cup  of 
gratitude  will  overflow  not  only  at  your  lips,  but  at 
the  lips  of  him  to  whose  public  spirit  you  owe  its 
construction.  In  that  degree,  will  its  whiteness,  its 
lightness,  and  its  beauty,  its  open  doors  and  its 
waiting  benches,  be  truly  symbolical  of  the  living 
presence  and  influence  of  those  kindly  characters  to 

1  1  Juo.  4:8.  "1  Jno.  4:  12. 


MEMORIALS   AND   MEETING   PLACES      317 

whose  memory  it  has  been  erected,  one  *  of  whom — 
the  best  known  in  this  community — never,  when  liv- 
ing, as  all  acquainted  with  him  can  testify,  know- 
ingly turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  cry  of  want,  or  prof- 
fered an  empty  hand  to  any  appeal  made  in  the 
name  of  humanity  or  of  its  Lord. 

"Without  any  exhortation  on  the  part  of  any 
speaker,  the  dictates  of  the  most  ordinary  apprecia- 
tion of  the  object  of  a  building  such  as  this,  and  the 
circumstances  of  its  erection,  will  lead  all  of  us  to 
treasure  it,  and  to  do  everything  in  our  power  to  ful- 
fil the  ends  for  which  it  has  been  erected.  Thus  shall 
we  best  be  showing  our  gratitude  to  those  generous 
friends  with  us  to-day,  whom  it  represents.  Thus 
shall  we  most  worthily  be  carrying  on  and  commem- 
orating the  good  works  of  those  not  now  with  us  of 
whom  it  is  a  memorial,  and  whom  it  also  represents. 
But  thus,  above  all,  shall  we  be  most  effectively  con- 
tinuing the  message  and  the  mission  of  the  inspired 
Master  whom  it  represents.  It  is  not  often  that  the 
appreciation  of  the  intellect,  the  gratitude  of  the 
heart,  the  associations  of  the  present,  the  memories 
of  the  past,  earthly  surroundings  and  heavenly  sug- 
gestions, man's  aid  and  God's  salvation,  every  noble 
inducement,  human  or  divine,  unite,  as  they  do  here, 
in  order  to  converge  upon  a  single  definite  aim, — 
that  of  imparting  material,  intellectual,  moral  and 
spiritual  assistance  to  those  who  are  to  frequent 
this  place,  and  thus  fulfil  the  purposes  to  which  it 
is  this  day  dedicated.    May  the  Source  of  all  good 

1  Matthew  Baird. 


318       SUGGESTIONS   FOB    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

enlighten  our  thoughts,  strengthen  our  wills,  and 
guide  our  actions,  so  that  this  offering  of  love,  ten- 
dered equally  to  those  who  have  departed  this  life, 
and  to  those  who  are  still  on  earth,  not  only  so  but 
to  the  Christ  and  to  God,  may  indeed  prove  to  be  an 
inestimable  blessing  to  ourselves  and  to  all  this  com- 
munity, both  in  our  own  time  and  for  long  genera- 
tions after  our  children's  children  shall  have  been 
gathered  to  their  fathers. 


XXI 

BELIEF    OF    THE    HEART    AND    OF    THE    HEAD: 
PRESIDENT  McKINLEY  AND  HIS  ASSASSIN1 

"For   ivith    the   heart   man    believeth   unto   righteousness." — Eom. 
10  :  10. 

In  trying  to  direct  your  attention  to  a  few  thoughts 
that  inevitably  suggest  themselves  this  morning  it 
has  seemed  to  me  that  all  of  them  together  might 
be  apjoropriately  clustered  around  a  single  general 
principle  applying  both  to  individual  and  to  national 
life,  and  not  only  in  our  own  times  but  in  all  times. 
This  principle  is  suggested  in  the  10th  verse  of  the 
10th  chapter  of  Romans,  "For  with  the  heart  man 
believeth  unto  righteousness." 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  belief  that  is  not  of  the 
heart.  There  is  such  a  process  as  holding  an  intel- 
lectual theory  that  is  not  influenced  by  the  emotions. 
There  is  such  a  condition  as  a  man's  being  led  by 
thought  without  being  moved  by  love.  Wherever 
this  condition  exists,  there  is  danger  to  the  individ- 
ual and  to  the  community.  Think  of  the  man  who 
committed  that  crime  in  Buffalo,  and  think  of  the 
mental  processes  through  which  he  arrived  at  the 
conclusion   which   caused  him   to   commit   it.     His 

1  Delivered  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Princeton,  New- 
Jersey,  on  Sunday,  September  15,  1901,  the  day  following  the  death 
of  the  President.    Eeprinted  from  the  Princeton  Press. 

319 


320      SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

father,  so  far  as  we  know  the  history  of  the  family, 
was  a  Pole.  He  came  from  a  land  where  there  is 
less  freedom  for  thought  and  speech  and  action, 
probably,  than  in  any  place  in  Europe  outside  of 
Turkey.  He  left  his  home,  and  found  a  refuge  in 
our  country,  where  all  the  conditions  are  reversed. 
But  this  reversal  apparently  did  not  affect  the  heart 
of  his  son.  It  did  not  awaken  that  gratitude  which 
has  been  manifested  by  thousands  and  thousands  of 
others  similarly  situated.  The  fact  that  men  in  this 
country  are  allowed  to  think  and  to  speak  what  they 
choose,  and  are  happier  and  better  because  of  their 
being  allowed  these,  this  fact  had  no  influence  upon 
him  or  upon  the  fellow  anarchists  with  whom,  as  he 
grew  up,  this  young  man  associated.  He  himself 
was  born  in  America;  but  if  the  reports  published 
in  the  papers  be  true,  he  probably  never  learned 
much  about  America.  In  his  own  home  he  was  sur- 
rounded by  an  atmosphere  of  thought  and  feeling 
that  was  imported  from  Poland.  When  he  went  to 
school  it  was  not,  so  far  as  we  are  told,  a  public 
school,  where  he  could  associate  with  American  boys 
and  learn  American  habits  of  thought  and  action. 
It  was  a  joarochial  school,  where,  probably,  he  asso- 
ciated mainly  with  other  children  of  foreign  extrac- 
tion. This  is  an  unfortunate  characteristic  of  paro- 
chial schools.  The  most  important  effect  that  Amer- 
ica has  had  upon  the  world  is  in  the  inculcating  of 
the  belief  that  all  men  are  brothers ;  the  belief  that 
there  are  no  fixed  classes  in  society;  the  belief  that 
if  one  have  the  mental  ability,  the  physical  diligence, 


McKINLEY  AND   HIS  ASSASSIN  321 

and  the  right  spirit  always,  he  has  a  chance,  which 
will  be  denied  him  by  no  one,  to  rise  from  the  low- 
est station  to  the  highest.  There  is  no  place  in  this 
world  where  this  conviction  is  so  thoroughly  in- 
grained into  one's  being  and  whole  conception  of 
life  as  in  the  public  schools.  Some  one  once  told  me 
of  Mr.  Roosevelt,  that  he  sent  his  boys,  for  a  while, 
at  least,  when  young,  to  these  schools  as  a  matter 
of  conscience,  so  as  not  to  deprive  them  of  that 
which  should  cultivate  in  them  this  American  feel- 
ing of  equal  comradeship  with  all  human  beings. 
The  fact  is  that  you  and  I,  all  of  us,  are  drops — 
and  no  more  than  single  drops — in  the  common 
ocean  of  humanity.  Some  of  us  ride  on  the  crest 
of  the  wave,  where  we  are  flung  up  to  sparkle  in 
the  sunshine;  some  of  us  are  always  so  far  down  in 
the  depths  that  we  scarcely  know  whether  there  ever 
is  any  sunshine.  But  whether  the  drops  be  on  the 
top  or  at  the  bottom,  any  one  of  them  may  weigh 
just  as  much  as  any  other,  and  may  contribute  just 
as  much  to  the  momentum  of  the  general  forward 
movement.  This  recognition  of  the  worth  and  dig- 
nity of  each  individual  in  the  community  is  some- 
thing that  seldom,  if  ever,  comes  to  those  who  are 
educated  in  schools  for  the  lower  classes  in  the  old 
country;  and  I  believe  it  sometimes  fails  to  come 
to  those  who,  in  this  country,  are  educated  entirely 
in  schools  conducted  according  to  methods  imported 
from  the  old  country.  One  of  the  most  unwise  things 
often  that  a  man  can  do  who  has  agrowing  boy  need- 
ing to  be  fitted  for  American  life,  to  be  fitted  to  meet 


322       SUGGESTIONS   FOR    SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

everybody  of  every  class  with  a  feeling  that  he  is 
equal  to  any  of  them,  is  to  have  his  training  con- 
fined to  that  of  one  of  these  schools. 

Whether  owing  to  the  influences  of  his  school  or 
of  his  home,  or  to  both,  this  assassin  grew  up  with- 
out any  sense  of  organic  connection  between  himself 
and  the  community,  or  any  feeling  of  responsibil- 
ity toward  it.  He  joined  himself  with  others — anar- 
chists— of  like  mind  with  his  own.  What  are  anar- 
chists? They  are  men  who  are  opposed  to  society 
as  it  has  been  organized,  even  tho  it  be  organized,  as 
in  our  own  country,  with  the  intent  of  securing 
peace  and  prosperity  for  every  member  of  society. 
Anarchists  are  opposed  to  rulers  as  rulers.  They 
do  not  wish  to  be  ruled.  They  say  that  they  want 
every  man  to  rule  himself.  What  is  the  result? 
They  bind  themselves  by  oaths  that  oblige  any  one 
of  them,  when  ordered  by  their  leaders,  to  murder 
some  government  official,  in  circumstances  where 
the  assassin  will  probably  be  detected  and  probably 
be  put  to  death;  and  if  he  fail  to  carry  out  the  order, 
all  the  society  are  pledged  to  murder  him.  This 
obligation  to  commit  murder  at  the  risk  of  one's 
own  life  is  what  the  anarchist  professes  to  believe 
will  tend  to  obtain  for  the  world  each  man's  free- 
dom to  rule  himself!  We  all  know  how  we  have 
solved  this  question  of  freedom  in  our  own  country 
— by  allowing  each  to  express  his  opinions  at  the 
ballot  box,  and  then  all  agreeing,  after  this  has  been 
done,  to  submit  to  the  opinions  of  the  majority. 

But  it  is  not  anarchy  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your 


McKINLEY  AND   HIS  ASSASSIN  323 

attention  this  morning  so  much  as  to  the  state  of 
mind  that  leads  to  the  expression  of  anarchy. 
Whether  or  not  an  American  education  could  have 
given  this  man  more  love  may  be  doubted.  I  myself 
do  not  doubt  it.  I  believe  that  American  institutions 
— among  them  American  jmblic  schools — were 
founded  on  the  principles  of  the  Bible,  and,  in  a 
less  degree,  perhaps,  but  in  just  as  true  a  sense  as 
Christian  churches,  are  means  of  grace.  But  be 
that  as  it  may,  the  fact  is  indisputable  that  no  man 
can  be  an  assassin  or  an  anarchist,  who,  for  some 
reason,  has  not  separated  his  mind  from  his  soul, 
his  theories  from  his  better  impulses,  his  thought 
from  his  heart.  Think  of  a  rational  being's  con- 
vincing himself  that  it  is  a  worthy  thing  to  murder 
another  man  who  has  a  wife  or  family  or  friends 
who  may  be  made  to  suffer, — above  all  things  to 
murder  a  man  who  has  been  chosen  by  over  half 
the  people  of  a  great  country  as  their  ruler ;  a  ruler 
too  who  is  meeting  one  on  grounds  of  equality,  to 
give  him  a  friendly  shake  of  the  hand!  Possibly 
such  a  person  is  sane;  but  there  is  many  an  insane 
patient  less  dangerous.  We  lock  up  the  insane  to 
keep  them  from  doing  harm.  AVhy  should  we  not 
lock  up  the  anarchist  to  keep  him  from  doing  harm? 
The  particular  fact,  however,  that  I  want  to  em- 
phasize this  morning  is  this:  that  a  condition  of 
mind  similar  to  that  of  the  anarchist's,  tho  mani- 
fested in  a  less  degree,  is  not  uncommon.  Those  who 
have  dealings  with  criminals  tell  us  that,  as  a  rule, 
they  always  try  to  justify  their  criminal  action,  and 


324       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

often  imagine  that  they  have  done  so ;  and  all  of  us 
know  to-day  some  persons,  criminals  in  a  less  de- 
gree, who  are  doing  the  same  thing.  What  is  the 
cause  of  such  a  state  of  mind?  At  some  period  away 
back  in  the  past,  perhaps,  there  was  for  every  one 
of  these  persons  a  time  when  he  was  conscious  of 
a  thought  prompting  to  action  which  his  better  na- 
ture, his  heart,  told  him  was  contrary  to  the  dictates 
of  love,  of  the  feeling  that  he  should  exercise  toward 
his  neighbor,  toward  one  who  is  a  child  of  the  same 
God  as  himself.  The  action  in  question  was  a  slight 
one,  perhaps,  but,  when  tempted  to  it,  he  yielded. 
He  did  not  repent.  He  has  yielded  to  greater  temp- 
tations since  then;  and  the  result  is  that  he  holds 
to-day  certain  theories  with  reference  to  life  that 
are  wrong  through  and  through,  and  nothing  but 
the  grace  of  God,  almost  miraculously  displayed, 
can  change  them.  He  may  be  merely  aristocratic 
in  his  feelings,  sharp  in  his  bargains,  deceitful  in 
his  phrases;  or  he  may  be  an  evil  doer  on  a  larger 
scale  than  these;  but  the  false  theory  is  there.  He 
has  learned  to  believe  without  being  influenced  from 
the  heart.  He  may  still  look  to  God  for  guidance, 
throw  up  his  hands  for  help,  surpliced  hands  per- 
haps like  sails,  wide  spread  for  every  wind  of 
heaven;  but,  like  an  anchor  dragging  and  grating 
on  rocks  under  the  surface,  his  false  theory,  formed 
without  regard  to  the  promptings  of  his  better  na- 
ture, will  impede  his  progress,  tho,  thanks  to  the 
mercy  of  God,  progress  he  may  make.  Let  us  be- 
ware, therefore,  of  accepting  any  theory  of  action 


McKINLEY  AND  HIS   ASSASSIN  325 

that,  at  any  time,  no  matter  how  slightly,  violates  the 
better  promptings  within.  It  is  only  with  the  heart 
that  man  believeth  unto  righteousness. 

We  have  considered  the  career  of  a  man  who  has 
learned  not  to  let  his  heart,  his  better  impulses,  in- 
fluence his  thought  so  as  virtually  to  control  his  be- 
liefs. Now  let  us  turn  from  him  in  order  to  consider 
a  man  of  an  opposite  character, — one  who  believes 
with  his  heart,  and  therefore  who  believes  unto 
righteousness,  believes  in  such  a  way  as  to  cause 
righteous  conceptions  and  conduct  in  himself,  and 
righteous  life  in  the  community  which  he  influences. 
If  Mr.  McKinley  be  destined  to  be  considered  in  the 
near  or  remote  future  one  of  the  greatest  presidents 
of  the  United  States,  it  will,  in  the  last  analysis, 
be  owing  solely  to  the  fact  that  he  has  had  a  great 
heart,  and  allowed  this  in  every  case  to  control  his 
actions.  What  perhaps  first  attracted  attention  and 
gave  him  prominence,  when  a  soldier  in  the  civil 
war,  was  the  self-forgetful  considerateness  with 
which,  when  temporarily  in  charge  of  the  commis- 
sary department  of  his  regiment,  he  exposed  himself 
in  the  open  field,  close  under  the  fire  of  the  enemy 
from  which  his  comrades  were  screened,  in  order  to 
distribute  drink  and  food  to  those  who  otherwise 
might  have  perished  from  exhaustion.  The  thought 
that  he  expended  upon  his  comrades  then,  the  right- 
eousness that  he  exhibited,  proceeded  from  one  who 
had  behind  his  thought  a  right  heart. 

"Is  McKinley  what  you  would  call  a  successful 
wire-puller?"  I  asked  of  a  prominent  political  man- 


32G       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

ager  of  Ohio,— one  of  the  four  most  prominent  in 
the  state.  "Not  at  all,"  he  answered.  "He  never 
has  had  to  pull  wires.  He  is  simply  good-hearted. 
One  can  oppose  him  all  he  wishes,  McKinley  will 
never  accept  his  enmity,  but  help  him  to  a  position 
and  office  if  he  deserve  it  as  readily  as  if  he  had 
always  been  a  most  ardent  supporter."  Mr.  Mc- 
Kinley was  made  Governor  of  Ohio  and  President 
of  the  United  States  less  because  of  his  intellectual 
and  executive  abilities,  his  eloquence  and  legislative 
foresight,  tho  these  were  acknowledged,  than  be- 
cause, behind  his  thought  and  his  method  of  express- 
ing it  in  speech  and  council,  he  had  a  trustworthy 
heart.  This  it  was  that  made  him,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  his  supporters,  a  righteous  man. 

When  he  became  our  Chief  Executive  he  mani- 
fested the  same  traits,  as  indeed  he  had  manifested 
them  before  when  leader  of  the  House.  During  the 
discussions  following  the  sinking  of  the-  Maine,  and 
preceding  the  declaration  of  war  against  Spain,  the 
Republican  members  of  Congress  were  deluged  with 
letters  from  their  constituents  urging  them  to  do 
something.  The  Senate  tried  to  do  something- 
wrong  if  not  right — by  passing  a  resolution  recog- 
nizing the  independence  of  Cuba.  The  House  was 
prepared  by  a  large  majority  to  pass  the  same  reso- 
lution. But  the  President,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Reed, 
the  Speaker,  prevented  the  resolution  from  being 
even  submitted  to  the  vote  of  the  Representatives. 
Sixty  Republicans  held  a  meeting  and  resolved,  if 
possible,  to  bring  the  President  to  terms.    A  friend 


McKINLEY  AND   HIS   ASSASSIX  327 

of  mine  was  made  chairman  of  a  committee  to  call 
at  the  White  House  for  that  purpose.  He  told  me 
that  he  made  the  most  savage  attack  that  he  dared 
to  make  upon  a  President  of  his  own  party,  and  that 
he  was  followed  by  all  the  rest  of  the  committee, 
expressing  almost  equal  hostility.  After  they  were 
through,  the  President  thanked  them  in  the  most 
cordial  terms  for  their  frankness,  and  said  that  they 
had  told  him  exactly  what  he  wanted  to  know, — i.  e., 
the  sentiments  of  their  constituents.  Then  he  began 
to  ask  them  questions,  put  in  forms,  however,  to 
make  them  the  strongest  kinds  of  arguments :— how 
they  would  carry  out  their  conceptions ;  who  was  the 
President  of  the  Cuban  Republic,  and  where  he 
lived ;  if  he  were  a  man  who  could  wisely  direct  the 
movements  of  United  States  soldiers,  were  they 
obliged  to  land  in  his  country;  whether  it  might  not 
be  wise  to  delay  a  little,  till  France  and  Italy  and 
Austria,  naturally  sympathetic  with  Spain,  had  been 
prepared  by  our  foreign  ministers  for  some  such 
action  on  our  part ;  and  till  we  had  purchased  a  few 
more  rounds  of  ammunition  from  abroad.  Then,  as 
they  were  leaving,  he  said  gently,  "I  am  trying  to 
do  my  best.  I  hope  you'll  not  turn  your  backs  upon 
me."  They  went  out  of  the  door  and  down  through 
the  White  House  grounds  to  the  street,  where  they 
were  to  take  the  trolley  for  the  Capitol.  Then,  as 
they  stood  there,  looking  at  one  another,  they  all 
began  to  laugh.  Coming  through  the  grounds,  two 
by  two,  each  had  learned  that  the  one  beside  him 
had  been  brought  over  to  the  Executive's  opinion. 


328       SUGGESTIONS  FOB  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

They  were  going  back  to  tell  the  indignant  crowd 
whom  they  had  represented  that  they  all  agreed  with 
the  President.  "You  may  call  such  a  man  weak," 
said  my  informant,  "but  if  he  had  been  weak,  he 
would  then  and  there  have  split  the  party."  But, 
you  see,  friends,  it  takes  two  to  make  a  quarrel,  just 
as,  before  the  time  of  matches,  it  used  to  take  the 
friction  of  two  sticks  to  make  a  fire.  The  party 
leaders,  much  as  some  of  them  may  have  desired 
it,  did  not  have  a  chance  to  quarrel  with  Mr.  Mc- 
Kinley.  He  was  too  good  natured  to  take,  in  a  proper 
spirit  for  their  purpose,  either  the  hint  or  the  hit 
that  they  tried  to  give  him.  It  was  the  great  and 
righteous  heart  behind  his  thought  and  speech  and 
bearing  that  made  him  the  great  and  righteous  poli- 
tician that  he  was. 

So  with  reference  to  that  which  is  termed  the  ex- 
pansion of  our  country,  with  which  his  name  will 
always  be  connected.  What,  in  the  future,  he  will 
be  praised  for  most  in  his  relations  to  this  will  be 
that  for  which,  probably,  he  has  been  the  most 
blamed  in  the  present; — i.  e.,  for  keeping  his  ear  to 
the  ground  to  hear  what  were  the  wishes  of  the 
people — for  traveling  from  Boston  to  Atlanta  and 
through  the  middle  West  before  his  signing  of  the 
Treaty  of  Paris,  in  order  to  find  out  what  the  peo- 
ple of  the  country  wanted.  A  cold-hearted,  selfish, 
even  a  self-opinionated  man,  would  never  have  done 
this.  McKinley  believed  with  his  heart — believed 
with  a  nature  that  loved  and  trusted  his  fellow-citi- 
zens, and,  in  a  great  emergency,  felt  that  their  con- 


McKINLEY  AND  HIS  ASSASSIN  329 

elusions  should  be  consulted.  In  a  country  like  ours, 
in  which  public  sentiment  rules,  and  will  be  sure  to 
manifest  itself  at  some  time,  however  a  temporary 
administration  may  succeed  in  going  contrary  to  it, 
this  course  of  the  President  was  certainly  the  wisest 
possible.  But,  notice,  it  was  the  instinctive  prompt- 
ing of  the  sympathetic  heart  behind  the  course  of 
action  that  he  pursued  which  made  this  course,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  people,  righteous ;  and  thus  made 
him  a  great  statesman. 

But  there  is  something  better  than  being  a  great 
statesman.  It  is  being  a  great  man;  and  here  at 
least,  whatever  you  may  have  thought  of  what  I 
have  said  so  far,  I  know  that  you  will  agree  with  me. 
If,  in  the  future,  Mr.  McKinley  is  to  be  called  a  great 
man,  it  will  be  because  of  the  love  that  underlay  all 
the  movements  of  his  mind  and  the  least,  as  well  as 
the  greatest,  action  through  which  they  were  ex- 
pressed. In  the  school-readers  of  the  time  when  I 
was  a  boy  there  used  to  be  stories  of  our  prominent 
men,  intended  to  illustrate  the  fact  that,  from  their 
youth  up,  they  had  been  distinguished  for  truthful- 
ness, as  in  the  tale  of  Washington  and  his  hatchet, 
or  for  honesty,  or  for  purity,  or  for  generosity,  or 
for  some  other  of  the  virtues  of  private-life.  Our 
forefathers  felt,  far  more  than  we  do  to-day,  that 
the  influence  for  good  of  a  great  man  upon  young 
people  depends  mainly  upon  their  having  a  profound 
impression  that,  as  a  rule,  great  excellence  in  per- 
sonal character  underlies  broad  and  enduring  in- 
fluence for  good  upon  others.    It  certainly  was  wise 


330       SUGGESTIONS   FOR   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

to  try  to  convey  such  an  impression.  Nothing  can 
do  more  harm  than  to  convey  an  opposite  impres- 
sion. No  man  has  a  moral  right  to  do  anything  to 
suggest  that  public  services  can  atone  for  private 
sins.  The  greater  the  services  that  are  recognized, 
the  greater  the  injury  that  may  he  done  by  the  ex- 
ample that  is  ignored.  But  when  a  country  has  pro- 
duced a  leader  whose  public  achievements,  brilliant 
as  they  may  have  been,  are  but  what  green  leaves 
are  to  a  flower  beside  the  beauty  of  his  private  life, 
then  indeed  is  that  country  blest!  Then  to  youth 
comes  an  ideal  that,  in  every  sense,  can  inspire,  to 
age  comes  an  incarnation  of  the  spiritual  that  can 
strengthen  faith,  and  to  all  a  consciousness  of  the 
nearness  of  the  divine! 

Do  I  exaggerate?  Think  what  it  is  in  these  days 
of  partisan  newspapers  and  of  people  of  so-called 
culture,  tho  of  narrow  range,  prone  to  talk  as  if 
every  man  who  gives  himself  to  public  life  were 
giving  himself  to  private  plunder;  think  what  it  is 
in  such  an  age  to  have  it  proven  beyond  all  question 
that  a  man  may  be  the  keenest  politician  of  his  time, 
and  yet  the  incarnation  of  unselfishness;  that  he 
may  rise  to  the  highest  station,  and  yet  have  the 
humblest  spirit ;  that  he  may  be  one  of  the  most  pow- 
erful of  earthly  rulers,  yet  be  ready,  at  a  moment's 
warning,  to  say,  "Thy  will,  not  mine,  be  done"! 
This  considerate  son  and  husband,  stopping  every 
day  amid  all  the  cares  of  government  to  send  a  note, 
in  his  own  handwriting,  to  his  aged  mother;  with  a 
wife  so  unnerved  by  disease  as  not  to  recognize  im- 


McKINLEY  AND  HIS  ASSASSIN  331 

propriety  in  what  others  might  consider  exacting, 
and  whose  wishes,  which  most  men  might  have 
deemed  themselves  justified  in  ignoring,  he  always 
granted,  no  matter  how  much  inconvenience  or  em- 
barrassment it  might  cause  him,  either  at  an  inaug- 
ural ball  or  a  diplomatic  dinner;  this  fine-grained 
gentleman,  whose  first  instinctive  thoughts  at  the 
moment  of  facing  a  possible  death,  were  in  behalf  of 
his  wife,  and  of  his  assassin,  and  of  those  whose 
guest  he  was ;  this  Christian  martyr,  who,  at  the  mo- 
ment of  consciously  facing  inevitable  death,  and  with 
probably  more  reasons,  and  worthy  reasons,  for 
wishing  to  live  than  anyone  on  the  globe  to-day ;  this 
man,  muttering  with  his  last  feeble  breath  no  com- 
plaint, but  only  the  words,  "It  is  God's  way ;  His  will 
be  done" — are  you  not  thankful  to  God,  and  proud 
that  such  a  man  has  been  the  President  of  the  United 
States?  Do  you  doubt  that  through  all  time  our 
children's  children  will  be  the  better  for  his  life  and 
influence?  I  think  not.  It  is  sad  to  have  him  go  as 
he  did;  but  if  he  had  gone  in  any  other  way  the 
world,  perhaps,  might  never  have  known  his  char- 
acter, or  have  been  inspired  by  it,  as  it  will  be  now. 
And,  friends,  think  of  this: — for  beings  consti- 
tuted with  minds  and  spirits  like  our  own,  a  thought, 
an  ideal  for  thought,  is  often  infinitely  more  im- 
portant than  the  prolongation  of  any  one  man's 
earthly  life,  even  tho  that  one  man  be  the  Christ. 


END. 


INDEX 


Abstraction     of     mind     in     great 

thinkers,    218. 
Addison,    221. 
Advanced    thought,    8,    9 ;    not    wise 

as   an    end,    but    as   incidental    to 

the  true,  9. 
Adversity,  discipline  of,  190-201. 
Agreement,      needed     as     basis      of 

proof,    147-149. 
American    vs.    European    education, 

320-323. 
Analogy,     arguments     from,    33-35 ; 

earthly,    of    the    heavenly,    33-35, 

110-112 ;     expressed     in    actions, 

202-205. 
Anarchists,   their   creeds  and   deeds, 

322,  323. 
Animal,  as  contrasted  with  vegetable 

and  man,   84. 
Aristocracy,  advantages  of,  275-277  ; 

of  wealth,  263,  274  ;  not  banished 

by  laws  forbidding  it,  274,  275. 
Assassin    of    McKinley,   his   life    and 

phase  of  belief,  319-324. 
Athenasius,    131. 

Atonement,  the,  76-80  ;  see  Incarna- 
tion. 
Augustine,  131. 

Ballot,  does  not  wholly  prevent  po- 
litical and  social  inequality,  274. 

Baptism,  162 ;  see  Church  Forms 
and   Forms. 

Belief,  of  the  heart  and  of  the  head, 
319-331  ;   see  Faith. 

Beliefs,  false,  why  men  are  account- 
able for  their  own,  323-325. 

Bible,  its  influence  on  culture  and 
learning,   56. 

Bigotry,  not  influential  in  convert- 
ing opponents,   148,   149. 

Bismarck,   233. 

Blood,  how,  in  sacrifice,  and  death 
of  Christ,  it  cleanses  from  sin, 
78-80 ;  of  what  symbolical  in 
sacrifices,     78-80. 

Bright,    233. 

Buckle,  111. 

Bull  fight,  Spanish,   38. 

Business,  attending  to  our  own, 
affording  us  with  means  for  use- 
fulness, 207-211,  215,  226. 

Carnal-mindedness,  tends  to  phys- 
ical death,  19,  20 ;  to  death  of 
enjoyment,     24-28 ;    to    death    of 


ideality,  22-24 ;  to  intellectual 
death,  21-24 ;  versus  spiritual 
control,   17-32. 

Cecil  the  Seer,  6. 

Change,  in  form  of  belief  and  wor- 
ship, necessary  in  natural  devel- 
opment of  church  or  character, 
161,    162,   179-182. 

Character,  personal,  improved  by 
Christianity,  56,  57,  170,  185-187, 
248-254  ;  judged  by  little  things, 
212,  224,  225,  227-229  ;  tested  in 
connection  with  our  conduct  to- 
ward persons,  104-106  ;  to  develop 
it,  the  object  of  earthly  experi- 
ence, 197-200,  211-214,  280,  281; 
with  what  we  have  and  where  we 
are,   it  earns  promotion,   211-214. 

Charity  for  others,  necessary,  282- 
289  ;  in  imparting  truth,  134-138. 

Chase,    246. 

Child,  as  trained  by  the  Church, 
162-164. 

Christ,  an  ideal  dwelling  within  us 
which  we  serve,  53,  106,  107  ; 
faith  in  him  as  awakened  by  his 
works,  54-62  ;  his  influence,  while 
living,  and  now,  49-52 ;  his  in- 
fluence upon  the  spirit,  301-303  ; 
his  work  in  regeneration,  301- 
304  ;  transforming  power  of  his 
spirit  on  mind  and  body,  29-31  ; 
our  model,    170,   171. 

Christian,  experience  different  at 
different  stages  of  one's  life,  141- 
144,  162-16S,  177-180,  226-229. 
241  ;  life  in  the  individual,  the 
source  of  Christian  civilization, 
181-182,  184-187  ;  representative 
character  of  a,  52,  53,  89,  90, 
101-109,  233-235. 

Christianity,  a  proof  of  the  divine 
mission  of  the  Christ,  54-62  ;  its 
achievement,  54-62  ;  its  influence 
on  human  liberty,  55,  56,  290- 
306  ;  on  individual  character,  56, 
57  ;    on   learning,   56. 

Church,  a  Christian,  what,  138 ; 
building,  uses  of,  312-318 ;  can- 
not represent  the  Christ  or  God 
as  can  a  man,  97-107  ;  its  forms, 
their  efficiency,  118-126  ;  its  influ- 
ence on  character  and  beliefs,  52  ; 
its  limitations,  99,  100;  its  train- 
ing of  children,  162-164  ;  of  grown 
members,   165-168 ;    Sunday   serv- 


333 


334 


INDEX 


ir-es  of,  their  civilizing  effects, 
312-315;  their  religious  effects, 
315-318. 

City,  influence  of,  on  civilization, 
313,  314. 

Civilization,  how  promoted  by  peo- 
ple's meeting  together,  as  in 
church  and  Sunday  school,  312- 
315. 

Classes  in  society,  not  wholly  evil 
or   useless,    275-277,    286-289. 

Clergyman,  sons  of  a,  139. 

Conduct,  more  important  than 
knowledge  in  determining  Chris- 
tian character,  63-80  ;  and  in  pro- 
moting it  in  others,   182-187. 

Confession  of  sins,   101,   102. 

Conscience,  connection  between  it 
and  Christian  doctrine,  300-304  ; 
what  it  is,  300. 

Consecration,  early,  240,  241  ;  repe- 
tition of,  241. 

Conservatism  and  progress  as  ele- 
ments  of  Christian    life,   172-18S'. 

Conversion,  29-31,  141-143,  166, 
167. 

Courage,  kindness  a  condition  of, 
243,    248,   253,    254. 

Criminals  justify  themselves,  and 
why  to  blame  for  it,   323-325. 

Dante,  218. 

Darwin,    111. 

Development,  law  of,  in  natural  and 
religious   life,    81-92,   157-188. 

Disappointment,  how  to  appropriate 
discipline  of,  189-201. 

Disciplinary,  life  as,  190-193. 

Discipline,  of  disappointment,  189- 
201  ;   the  object  of  life,  280. 

Dogma,  development  of,  in  the 
Church,  179-182  ;  interest  in,  130, 
131  ;  preaching  of,  131-135 ; 
teaching  of,  130,  131. 

Dogmatism,  286 ;  lack  of,  in  the 
methods  of  Jesus,   63-66. 

Doing,  a  criterion  of  religious  char- 
acter,   74-80,    141  -144  ;    a    mi  an 
of  developing  faith,  58-63,  75-SO, 
111-144. 

Doubt,  not  wholly  inconsistent  with 
faith.  44-47,  61  ;  should  not  be 
preached  or  reinforced  from  the 
pulpit.    8-10. 

Duty,  to  do  that  peculiar  to  our- 
selves, a  foremost  obligation,  207- 
215,  280-286;  more  inportant 
than   working  reforms,  284. 

Education,  American  versus  Euro- 
pean, 123,  124,  320-323:  uni- 
versal, not  a  cure  for  social  in- 
equality, 275;  mastery  of  ele- 
mentary rudiments  in,  essential, 
127-134,    172-176. 


Elements  of  a  subject  must  be  mas- 
tered in  education,  127-134,  172- 
176. 

Example,  influence  of,  in  making 
men  Christians,  49-54,  143,  144, 
183,    184,    233-242. 

Experience,  religious,  discipline  of, 
190-196  ;  its  nature  and  necessity, 
141-144,    183,    184,   226-229. 


Faith,  as  a  growth,  58-62 ;  as  in- 
fluenced by  carnal-  and  spiritual- 
mindedness,  24,  30  ;  as  related  to 
the  sacrifices  of  Israel  and  Jesus, 
77-80 ;  connection  of,  with  good 
works,  58-62,  124-126,  142,  143; 
cultivated  by  adversity,  197,  198  ; 
doubt  not  inconsistent  with,  44, 
47,  61  ;  essential  in  a  Christian, 
155,  156 ;  founded  on  evidence, 
36 ;  founded  on  observation,  54- 
62  ;  founded  on  sympathy,  52-54  ; 
more  than  intellection,  9,  10 ; 
needed  to  make  Church  forms  or 
anv  forms  efficacious,  123,  124, 
250,  251;  proved  by  works,  61, 
62 ;  underlies  effects  in  poetry, 
philosophy,  science  and  history,  as 
well   as   in   religion,   111. 

Fidelity,  affected  by  carnality,  24  ; 
by  spirituality,  30  ;  small,  preced- 
ing  great   fulfilment,    217-229. 

Force,  inefficacy  of,  as  a  religious 
method,   152-155. 

Forgiveness  of  sins,  as  practised  by 
priests  and  good  men,  101.  102. 

Formalism  in  religion,  136-138,  225, 
250,   251. 

Forms  of  the  Church,  changes  in 
them,  161,  162,  179-181;  their 
efficacy,    117-126,    250,    251. 

Foundation  principles  of  Christi- 
anity,   176,    177. 


Generosity,  as  affected  by  car- 
nality, 24  ;  by  spirituality,  30 ; 
by  the  Christian  system,  81-92, 
264-271. 

Gentleman,  McKinley  a,  331. 

Gentleness,  essential  in  the  Chris- 
tian, 154. 

Giving,  compared  with  receiving, 
has  higher  characteristics,  84-86  ; 
is  more  in  demand,  81-84  ;  re- 
ceives more  rewards.   87-92. 

God,  comprehension  and  definition 
of,    difficult,    93,    94. 

Goethe,   212,  220. 

Grant,   149. 

Gratitude,  as  affected  by  carnality, 
24  :    by   spirituality.   30. 

Growth  in  grace,  157-188';  see  De- 
velopment. 


INDEX 


335 


Healing,  mental.   37,   38. 

Heaven,  necessarily  pictured  accord- 
ing to  earthly  analogies,  33-35. 

Herder,  220. 

History  of  the  Church,  161-164, 
179-181. 

Homer,  secret  of  his  artistic  rank, 
221. 

Human  nature,  fitted  to  receive  re- 
ligious truth.  149,  150 ;  necessity 
for  knowledge  of,  in  imparting 
truth,  140-142. 

Humiliation,  doing  away  with  too 
great  a   sense  of,    276,   277. 

Humility  in  the  Christian,  155,  215 
216. 

Hypnotism,   37,  38. 

Ideal  of  the  Christ  in  his  mind  is 
what  the  Christian  serves,  106, 
107. 

Ideality,  as  affected  by  carnal-mind- 
edness,  22-28  ;  by  spiritual-mind- 
edness,   29-31. 

Immaturity  of  thought,  influential 
with  the  young,  7. 

Immortality,  effects  of  belief  in,  on 
individual  character  and  achieve- 
ment, 310,  311 ;  on  the  types  of 
art  and  civilization,  308,  309  ; 
something  to  be  won,  86. 

Incarnation,  necessity  for  it  in 
man's  nature,  96,  97  ;  how  it  in- 
fluences one's  spirit,  301-304. 

Innocence  and  ignorance,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  Christian   life,  162. 

Inspiration,  universality  of  it,  42, 
43. 

Integrity,  as  affected  by  carnality, 
24  ;  by  spirituality,  30. 

Intellectual  prominence  dependent  on 
accuracy  and  scrupulousness  in 
little   things,    219-223. 

Joy,  as  dependent  on  spiritual- 
mindedness  and  ideality.  23;  on 
what  we  give,  88,  267,  268. 

Kepler,    116. 

Kind  heart,  the  condition  of  a  cour- 
ageous  life.   243-254. 
Kingdom  of  God,  57,  247,  262. 

Law,  influence  of  it  alone  not  re- 
generating,   301-303. 

Lessing.    70,   220. 

Liberal-mindedness,  of  Jesus,  63-66, 
70,  71  ;  of  those  influential  with 
opponents,   148,  149. 

Liberty,  a  result  of  Christian  civil- 
ization. 290-306  ;  how  attained  by 
individuals  and  communities,  301- 
306  ;  not  in  solitude,  294-296 ; 
restricted    by    society,    296,    297  ; 


restricted  by  workings  of  indi- 
vidual human  nature,  297-300 ; 
unfolding  of  promise  of  it,  in  the 
Bible,  290-292 ;  what  it  is.  293, 
294  ;  where  obtained,  294-306. 

Life  after  death,  effect  of  belief  in, 
on  art  and  civilization,  308,  309  ; 
on   individual  character,   310,  311. 

Life,  religious,  influence  of  one 
man's  upon  another,  49-54,  143, 
144,  183,  184,  234-239,  241,  242; 
see  Doing  and  Works. 

Lincoln,    244,   246. 

Literary  excellence,  dependent  on 
little  things,  220,  221. 

Little  excellencies  evince  greatness, 
212,  217-221. 

Lord's  Supper,  as  a  test  of  disciple- 
ship,  97,  98  ;  efficacy  of,  119,  120, 
123,   124. 

Love,  as  affected  by  carnal-  and 
spiritual-mindedness,  24,  25,  30 ; 
as  a  means  of  developing  char- 
acter, 250-254  ;  criterion  of  Chris- 
tian discipleship,  93-109  ;  culmi- 
nation of  nature's  trend  in  evolu- 
tion, 81-92 ;  for  God  and  Christ 
shown  by  love  for  one's  fellows, 
97-109;  inheritance  of,  258-271; 
service  of,  75-80,  248-254,  271. 

Man,  comprehension  of,  difficult,  94, 
95  ;  contrasted  with  animal,  85. 

Manhood,  fully  developed  by  Chris- 
tianity. 253,  254. 

Marini,  218. 

McKinley,  as  a  gentleman,  330,  331 ; 
as  a  son  and  husband,  330,  331  ; 
his  character,  325-331  ;  his  Chris- 
tianity, 330,  331  ;  kindness,  325- 
331  :  physical  courage,  325  ; 
morality,  329,  330  ;  statesman  at 
time  of  expansion,  328,  329  ;  tac- 
titian   and   politician.   326-328. 

Meekness,  characteristic  of  Christ, 
254-271  ;  of  Christians,  153,  154, 
255-271  ;  making  both  inherit  the 
earth  spiritually  and  materially, 
255-271. 

Meeting  places,  usefulness  of  them, 
312-318  ;  together  of  men,  civil- 
izing and  spiritualizing  effect  of, 
312-316. 

Memorials  of  the  dead,  307-312 ; 
those  continuing  one's  influence 
the  most  desirable,  311,  312. 

Milton,   221. 

Mind,  appeals  of  Jesus  to  the.  64, 
65  ;  influence  of  one,  on  another, 
37-42. 

Morality,  always  involves  some  help 
from  God's  spirit,  71-73. 

Motives,  important  to  consider  a 
man's,  285 ;  impossible  to  read 
another     man's,     285,     286 ;     or 


336 


INDEX 


sometimes  to  interpret  one's  own, 
5,  7. 
Music,  subtlety  of  its  influence  upon 
will  that  it  leaves  free,  40-43 ; 
why  representing  symbolically  the 
employment  of  heaven,  40-42. 

Nathan  the  Wise,  70. 

Nature,    teachings     of.     in    analogy 

with  those  of  revelation,  71. 
Neander,   217. 
Negro,  see  Suffrage. 
Newton,   220. 
Nobility,   see  Aristocracy. 

Occupations,  uncommon  opportuni- 
ties in  common,  202-216 ;  none 
determine  one's  position  with  God, 
286-289. 

Opportunities,  uncommon,  in  com- 
mon   occupations,    202-216. 

Pascal,  220. 

Patience,  importance  of  it,  when 
communicating  religious  truth, 
150,   151. 

Personal  influence  exerted  by  Christ, 
49,  51 :  by  Christians,  on  one  an- 
other, 52-54  ;   see  Example. 

Personality  of  Christ  and  God  rep- 
resented in  men,  100,  101. 

Poetry,  spiritual  and  mental  effect 
of,   199,   200. 

Positions  in  life,  all  have  reasons 
for  existing,  275-277;  286-289; 
none  bias  God,  286-2S9 ;  sub- 
ordinate considerations  to  that  of 
discipline  received,   280-286. 

Possessions,  if  we  would  do  good, 
we  need  merely  use  our  own,  205- 
207,   215. 

Prayer,  spirit  of,  44-47. 

Private  and  unconscious  influence, 
238-242. 

Progress  and  conservatism  as  ele- 
ments of  Christian  life.  172-188. 

Progressive,  life  as,  192-194. 

Property,  loss  of,  192,  199. 

Providence,  discipline  of.  190-193. 

Psychic  methods  of  healing,  37,  38, 
112. 

Psychology  of  inspiration,  6. 

Puritanic  methods  of  training  chil- 
dren,  and  results,   136-140. 

Puritanism,  136,  137. 

Ranks,  different  in  society,  not 
wholly  an   evil,   275-277,   286-289. 

Raphael,   311. 

Rationality,  appeal  of  Jesus  to 
men's,  64,  65. 

Reading,  consoling  and  spiritual  ef- 
fects of,  199-201 ;  of  scriptures, 
201. 

Receiving,    see  Giving, 


Reformation  may  touch  only  outside 
form,   274,   275. 

Religion,  as  a  cure  for  social  and 
political  ills,  286-289  ;  what  it 
means,  286,  287. 

Repetition  essential  in  education, 
127-130. 

Representative  function  of  the 
Christ,  and  the  Christian,  52,  53, 
89,   90,   101-109,   233-235. 

Responsibility,  its  influence  in  de- 
veloping  character,    245-247. 

Revelation,  through  inspiration,  de- 
velopment of,  in  Old  and  New 
Testament,  160-162 ;  of  the  pur- 
pose of  liberty,  290-292 ;  of  sal- 
vation through  the  law  and  the 
gospel,  301-303 ;  universality  of 
some,   42,    43. 

Riches  as  dependent  on  care  of  lit- 
tle things,  222. 

Roosevelt,   331. 

Royalty,  see  Aristocracy. 

Ruskin,   220,    221,   233. 

Sacraments,  partaking  of,  no  test 
of  Christian  discipleship,  76,  77, 
97-100,    117-126,   250,   251. 

Sacrifice,  as  made  by  the  Christ, 
78-80 ;  its  Jewish  use,  77  ;  never 
meant  to  be  a  form  without  sym- 
bolic meaning  and  practical  ef- 
fects, 77-80. 

Salvation,   90. 

Samaritan,    parable   of    good,   66-80. 

Samaritans,  68. 

Schiller,  220. 

Schools,  parochial  versus  public,  in 
America,    320-322. 

Seward,  246. 

Shakespeare,  212,  311. 

Social,  inequality,  how  to  get  recon- 
ciled to,  272-274  ;  prominence  de- 
pendent on   little  things,  221-225. 

Socialistic  problems,  their  religious 
solution,  272-289. 

Socrates,  218. 

Sovereignty,  divine,  can  control 
thought  and  free  will,  36-42  ;  its 
rule  beneficent,   42-48. 

Spanish  bull  fight,  38. 

Spirit  of  Christ,  301-303  ;  more  im- 
portant to  have  than  that  of  re- 
form, 283-289 ;  of  man  as  in- 
fluenced by  religion,  152 ;  see 
Christ,  Christian,  Church  and 
Forms. 

Spiritual  advancement,  as  resulting 
from  fidelity  in  material  occupa- 
tion, 214,  215;  possession  of  the 
earth,   263-271. 

Spiritually  true,  how  a  statement 
can  be,   259,   260. 

Stewart,   A.   T.,   311. 

Striker,   social  attitude  of,   282-286, 


INDEX 


337 


Success  in  life  depends  on  culture  of 
character,  226-229,  280. 

Suffrage,  not  a  panacea  for  all  ills, 
274 ;  negro,  275,  283 ;  women, 
275. 

Sunday  school  and  services,  civiliz- 
ing effects  of,  312-315 ;  religious 
effects  of,  315-318. 

Susceptibility,  as  the  foundation  of 
worthy  character,  244-246,  248. 

Sympathy,  its  influence  in  impart- 
ing truth,  134,  139-141,  315-317  ; 
the  motive-power  of  Christianity, 
53-58. 


Teaching  religious  theory  and 
practice,  127-156. 

Tennyson,   221. 

Theology,   see   Dogma. 

Theories,  false,  why  a  man  account- 
able for  his  own,  324,  325. 

Thought  of  one  man,  as  controlled 
by  that  of  another,   36-42. 


Turner,  320,   321. 
Tyng,    Dr.,   148. 

Unconscious  influence,  efficacy  of, 
236-242. 

Unity  of  universe,  33-35. 

Unseen  agencies,  powerful  in  in- 
fluence,  40-42. 

Usefulness,  all  have  some,  278. 

Vaugelas,    219. 
Virgil,    221. 

Washington,  311. 

Wieland,  220. 

Will,  of  one  man,  as  controlled  by 
another,  and  by  God,  36-42. 

William,    Emperor,   233. 

Works,  good,  a  test  of  religious 
character,  74-80 ;  their  influence 
in  developing  religious  faith  and 
character,  52-62,  124-126;  their 
reward,  124-126 ;  those  of  Chris- 
tianity, a  proof  of  its  authen- 
ticity,  54-62. 


Other  Books  by  Professor  Raymond 

The  Psychology  of  Inspiration.  8vo,  cloth.  Net,  $1.40;  by  mail,  $1.53 

The  book  founds  its  conclusions  on  a  study  of  the  action  of  the  human  mind  when 
obtainiug  and  expressing  truth,  as  this  action  has  been  revealed  through  the  most  recent 
investigations  of  physiological,  psychological  and  psychic  research;  and  the  freshness  and 
originality  of  the  presentation  is  acknowledged  and  commended  by  such  authorities  as 
Dr.  J.  Mark  Baldwin,  Professor  of  Psychology  in  Johns  Hopkins  University,  who  says 
that  its  psychological  position  is  "new  and  valuable";  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris,  late  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Education  and  the  foremost  metaphysician  in  the  country,  who 
says  it  is  sure  "  to  prove  helpful  to  many  who  find  themselves  on  the  border  line  between 
the  Christian  and  the  non-Christian  beliefs";  and  Dr.  Edwaid  Everett  Hale,  who  says 
that  "no  one  has  approached  the  subject  from  this  point  of  view."  He  characterizes  it, 
too,  as  an  "endeavor  to  formulate  conceptions  that  almost  every  Christian  to-day  be- 
lieves, but  without  knowing  why  he  does  so."  As  thus  intimated  by  Dr.  Hale,  the  book 
is  not  a  mere  contribution  to  apologetics— not  a  mere  defense  of  Christianity.  It  con- 
tains a  formulation  of  principles  that  underlie  all  rational  interpretation  of  all  forms  of 
revealed  religion.  These  principles  are  applied  in  the  book  to  Christian  doctrine,  faith, 
and  conduct;  to  the  services,  discipline,  and  unity  of  the  church  ;  and  to  the  methods  of 
insuring  success  in  missionary  enterprise.  It  strives  to  reveal  both  the  truth  and  the 
error  that  are  in  such  systems  of  thonsrht  as  are  developed  in  AGNOSTICISM,  PRAG- 
MATISM, MODERNISM,  THEOSOPUY,  SPIRITUALISM,  AND  CHRISTIAN 
SCIENCE. 

The  first  and,  perhaps,  the  most  important  achievement  of  the  book  is  to  show  that 
the  fact  of  inspiration  can  be  demonstrated,  scientifically ;  in  other  works,  that  the  inner 
subconscious  mind  can  be  influenced  irrespective  of  influences  exerted  through  the  eyes 
and  the  ears,  i.e.,  by  what  one  sees  or  hears.  In  connection  with  this  fact  it  is  also 
shown  that,  when  the  mind  is  thus  inwardly  f>r  inspirationally  influenced,  as,  for  example, 
in  hypnotism,  the  influence  is  suggestive  and  not.  dictatorial.  As  a  result,  the  inspired 
person  presents  the  truth  given  him  not  according  to  the  letter,  but  according  to  the 
spirit.  His  object  is  not  to  deal  with  facts  and  impart  knowledge,  as  science  does. 
This  would  lead  men  to  walk  by  sight.  His  object  is  to  deal  with  principle*,  and  these 
may  frequently  be  illustrated  just  as  accurately  by  apparent,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
parable,  by  imagined  circumstances,  as  by  actual  ones.  For  this  reason,  many  of 
the  scientific  and  historical  so-called  "  objections  "  to  the  Bible  need  not  be  answered 
categorically.  Not  onlv  so,  but  such  faith  as  it  is  natural  and  right  that  a  rational 
being  should  exercise  can  be  stimulated  and  developed  in  only  the  degree  in  which 
the  text  of  a  sacred  book  is  characterized  by  the  very  vagueness  and  variety  of 
meaning  and  statement  which  the  higher  criticism  of  the  Bible  has  brought  to  light.  The 
book  traces  these  to  the  operation  and  requirements  of  the  human  mind  through  which 
inspiration  i3  received  ana  to  which  it  it  imparted.  Whatever  inspires  must  appear  to  he, 
in  some  way,  beyond  the  grasp  of  him  who  communicates  it,  and  can  make  him  who 
hears  it  think  and  train  him  to  think,  in  the  degree  only  in  which  it  is  not  comprehensive 
or  complete  ;  but  merely,  like  everything  else  in  nature,  illustrative  of  that  portion  of 
truth  which  the  mind  needs  to  be  made  to  find  out  for  itself. 


"A  book  that  everybody  should  read  .  .  .  medicinal  for  profest  Christians,  and  full 
of  guidance  and  encouragement  for  those  finding  themselves  somewhere  between  the 
desert  and  the  town.  The  sane,  fair,  kindly  attitude  taken  gives  of  itself  a  profitable 
lesson.  The  author  proves  conclusively  that  his  mind — and  if  his,  why  not  another's  f — 
can  be  at  one  and  the  same  time  sound,  sanitary,  scientific  aud,  essentially  religious." 
— The  Examiner,  Chicago. 

"The  author  writes  with  logic  and  a  'sweet  reasonableness,'  that  will  doubtless 
convince  many  halting  minds.    It  is  an  inspiring  book." — Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

"It  is,  we  think,  difficult  to  overestimate  the  value  of  this  volume  at  the  present 
critical  pass  in  the  history  of  Christianity." — The  Arena,  Boston. 

"  The  author  has  taken  up  a  task  calling  for  heroic  effort,  and  has  given  ns  a  volume 
worthy  of  careful  study.  .  .  .  The  conclusion  is  certainly  very  reasonable." — Christian 
Intelligencer,  New  York. 

"Interesting,  suggestive,  helpful."— Boston  Congregationalist. 

"Thoughtful,  reverent,  suggestive."— Lutheran  Observer,  Philadelphia. 

"  Professor  Raymond  is  a  clear  thinker,  an  able  writer,  and  an  earnest  Christian,  and 
his  book  is  calculated  to  be  greatly  helpful  to  those  in  particular  who,  brought  up  in  the 
Christian  faith,  find  it  impossible  longer  to  reconcile  the  teachings  of  the  Church  with 
the  results  of  modern  scientific  thought." — Newark  (N.  J.)  Evening  Sews. 

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Fundamentals  in  Education,  Art  and  Civics:  Essays  and  Addresses. 
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artist,  the  musician,  in  a  word  to  all  lovers  of  sweetness  and  light.  The  author  has  a 
lucid  and  vigorous  style,  and  is  often  strikingly  original.  What  impresses  one  is  the 
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— Dundee  Courier,  Scotland. 

"The  articles  cover  a  wide  field  and  manifest  a  uniformly  high  culture  in  every  field 
covered.  It  is  striking  how  this  great  educator  seems  to  have  anticipated  the  educational 
tendencies  of  our  times  some  decades  before  thev  imprest  the  rest  of  us.  He  has  been 
a  pathfinder  for  many  younger  men,  and  still  points  the  way  to  higher  heights.  The  book 
is  thoroughly  up-to-date."— Ser vice,  Philadelphia. 

"Clear,  informing,  and  delightfully  readable.  Whether  the  subject  is  art  and  morals, 
technique  in  expression,  or  character  in  a  republic,  each  page  will  be  found  interesting 
and  the  treatment  scholarly,  but  simple,  sane,  and  satisfactory  ....  the  story  of  the 
Chicago  fire  is  impressingly  vivid."—  Chicago  Standard. 

"He  is  a  philosopher,  whose  encouraging  idealism  is  well  grounded  in  scientific  study, 
and  who  illuminates  points  of  psychology  and  ethics  as  well  as  of  art  when  they  come  up 
in  the  course  of  the  discussion." — The  Scotsman,  Edinburgh,  Scotland. 

"A  scholar  of  wide  learning,  a  teacher  of  experience,  and  a  writer  of  entertaining  and 
convincing  style."—  Chicago  Examiner. 

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stinted praise.  They  are  interpenetrated  by  a  splendid  patriotism." — Rochester  Post- 
Express. 

"Agreeably  popularizes  much  that  is  fundamental  in  theories  of  life  and  thought. 
The  American  people  owe  much  of  their  progress,  their  optimism,  and  we  may  say  their 
happiness  to  the  absorption  of  just  such  ideals  as  Professor  Raymond  stands  for."— 
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"They  deal  with  eubjects  of  perennial  interest,  and  with  principles  of  abiding  impor- 
tance, and  they  are  presented  with  the  force  and  lucidity  which  his  readers  have  come  to 
look  for  in  Dr.  Raymond."— Living  Age,  Boston. 

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add  spice  to  the  pages." — Nashville  Temtessean. 

"Deals  with  love  and  religion  in  a  small  country  town,  and  under  the  facile  pen  and 
keen  humor  of  the  author,  the  various  situations  ....  are  made  the  most  of  ...  . 
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"Such  a  spicy,  racy,  more-truth-than-fiction  work  has  not  been  placed  in  our  hands 
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"The  book  is  delightful  ....  in  several  ways  very  remarkable."— Boston  Times. 

"A  distinct  surprize  lies  in  this  little  story  ....  of  1879  ....  so  strongly  does  it 
partake  of  the  outlook  and  aim  of  the  new  church  of  to-day." — Washington  Star. 

"In  'Modern  Fishers  of  Men,'  one  sees  that  the  Men  and  Religion  Forward  Movement 
existed  before  it  began." — The  Watchman,  Boston. 

"Pleasent  reading  for  those  whom  sad  experience  has  led  to  doubt  the  possibility  of  a 
real  community  uplift  with  lasting  qualities.  The  story  is  brightened  with  a  quiet  but 
none  the  less  hearty  humor." — Cincinnati  Times. 

"Mr.  Raymond's  style  appears  quaint  but  it  has  an  appeal  of  a  peculiar  kind,  height- 
ened by  its  very  quaintness  ....  interesting  and  entertaining." — Orand  Rapids  Press, 
Mich. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  Publisher.,  New  York  and  London 


TEXT-BOOKS  BY  PROFESSOR  RAYMOND 


The  Essentials  of  ^Esthetics.    8vo.    Illustrated      .        Net,  $2.50 

This  work,  which  is  mainly  a  compendium  of  the  author's  system  of  Comparative 
./BBthetics,  previously  published  in  seven  volumes,  was  prepared,  by  request,  for  a  text- 
book and  for  readers  whose  time  is  too  limited  to  study  the  minutiae  of  the  subject. 

"We  consider  Professor  Raymond  to  possess  something  like  an  ideal  equipment. 
.  .  .  His  own  poetry  is  genuine  and  delicately  constructed,  his  appreciations  are  true  to 
high  ideals,  and  his  power  of  scientific  analysis  is  unquestionable.  .  .  .  He  was  known, 
when  a  student  at  Williams,  as  a  musician  and  a  poet — the  latter  because  of  taking,  in 
his  freshman  year,  a  prize  in  verse  over  the  whole  college.  After  graduating  in  this 
country,  he  went  through  a  course  of  aesthetics  with  Professor  Vischer  of  the  University 
of  Tubingen,  and  also  with  Professor  Curtius  at  the  time  when  that  historian  of  Greece 
was  spending  several  hours  a  week  with  his  pupils  among  the  marbles  of  the  Berlin 
Museum.  (Subsequently,  believing  that  all  the  arts  are,  primarily,  developments  of  dif- 
ferent forms  of  expression  through  the  tones  and  movements  of  the  body,  Professor  Ray- 
mond made  a  thorough  study,  cuiefly  in  Paris,  of  methods  of  cultivating  and  using  the 
voice  in  both  singing  and  speaking,  and  of  representing  thought  and  emotion  through 
postures  and  gestures.  It  is  a  result  of  these  studies  that  he  afterwards  developed,  first, 
into  his  methods  of  teaching  elocution  and  literature  (as  embodied  in  his  '  Orator's 
Manual' and  'The  Writer')  and  later  into  his  aesthetic  system.  ...  A  Princeton  man 
has  said  of  him  that  he  has  as  keen  a  sense  for  a  false  poetic  element  as  a  bank  expert 
for  a  counterfeit  note,  and  a  New  York  model  who  posed  for  him,  when  preparing  iiltis- 
trations  for  one  of  his  books,  said  that  he  was  the  only  man  that  he  had  ever  met  wha» 
could  invariably,  without  experiment,  teH'him  at  once  what  posture  to  assume  in  order 
to  represent  any  required  sentiment."— New  York  Times. 

"So  lucid  in  expression  and  rich  in  illustration  that  every  page  contains  matter  of 
deep  interest  even  to  the  general  reader."— Boston  Herald. 

"  Dr.  Raymond's  book  will  be  invaluable.  He  shows  a  knowledge  both  extensive 
and  exact  of  the  various  fine  arts,  and  accompanies  his  ingenious  and  suggtstive  theories 
by  copious  illustrations."—  The  Scotsman  (Edinburgh). 

The  Orator's  Manual.     12mo, $1.20 

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Reading,  designed  as  a  Text-book  for  Schools  and  Colleges,  and  for  Public  Speakers  and 
Readers  who  are  obliged  to  Study  without  an  Instructor,  fully  revised  with  important 
Additions  ufter  the  Fifteenth  Edition. 

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tical student  ever  published."—  Tlie.Educational  Weekly,  Chicago. 

"  I  consider  it  the  best  American  book  upon  technical  elocution.  It  has  also  leanings 
toward  a  philosophy  of  expression  that  no  other  book  written  by  an  American  has  pre- 
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"  The  work  is  evidently  that  of  a  skilful  teacher  bringing  before  students  of  oratory 
the  results  of  philosophical  thinking  and  successful  experience  in  an  admirable  form  and 
a  narrow  compass."—/.  W.  Churchill,  Professor  of  Homiletics,  Andover  Theological 
Seminary. 

The  Writer  (with  Post  Wheeler,  Litt.D.)     12mo,    .        .      $1.00 

A  Concise,  Complete,  and  Practical  Text-book  of  Rhetoric,  designed  to  aid  in  the 
Appreciation,  as  well  as  Production  of  All  Forms  of  Literature,  Explaining,  for  the  first 
time,  the  Principles  of  Written  Discourse  by  correlating  them  to  those  of  Oral  Discourse. 
Former  editions  fully  revised. 

"  A  book  of  unusual  merit.  A  careful  examination  creates  the  impression  that  the 
exercises  have  been  prepared  by  practical  teachers,  and  the  end  in  view  is  evidently  to 
teach  rather  than  to  give  information."—  The  Pacific  Educational  Journal. 

"The  pupil  will  forget  he  is  studying  rhetoric,  and  will  come  to  express  himself  for 
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volume  that  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  literary  worker.  "—S.tate  Gazette,  Trenton,  N.J. 

"The  treatment  is  broader  and  more  philosophical  than  in  the  ordinary  text-book. 
Every  species  of  construction  and  figure  is  considered.  The  student  has  his  critical  and 
literary  sense  further  developed  by  .  .  .  the  best  writings  in  the  language  used  to 
illustrate  certain  qualities  of  style."—  The  School  Journal. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  and  London,  Publuhera 


Professor  Raymond's  System  of  COMPARATIVE  AESTHETICS 

I.— Art  in  Theory.    8vo,  cloth  extra $1.75 

"ScoreB  an  advance  upon  the  many  art  criticisms  extant.  .  .  .  Twenty  brilliant 
chapters,  pregnant  with  suggestion."— Popular  Science  Monthly. 

"  A  well  grounded,  thoroughly  supported,  and  entirely  artistic  conception  of  art  that 
will  lead  observers  to  distrust  the  charlatanism  that  imposes  an  idle  and  superficial 
mannerism  upon  the  public  in  place  of  true  beauty  and  honest  workmanship."—  The 
New  York  Times. 

"  His  style  is  good,  and  his  logic  sound,  and  ...  of  the  greatest  possible  service 
to  the  student  of  artistic  theories."— Art  Journal  (London). 

II. — The  Representative  Significance  of  Form.  8vo,  cloth  extra  $2.00 

"A  valuable  essay.  .  .  .  Professor  Raymond  goes  so  deep  into  causes  as  to  explore  the 
subconscious  and  the  unconscious  mind  for  a  solution  of  his  problems,  and  eloquently  to 
range  through  the  conceptions  of  religion,  science  and  metaphysics  in  order  to  find  fixed 
principles  of  taste.  .  .  .  A  highly  interesting  diacussion." — The  Scotsman  (Edinburgh). 

"  Evidently  the  ripe  fruit  of  years  of  patient  and  exhaustive  study  on  the  part  of  a 
man  singularly  fitted  for  his  task.  It  is  profound  in  insight,  searching  in  analysis,  broad 
In  spirit,  and  thoroughly  modern  in  method  and  sympathy." — The   Unirersalist  Leader. 

"  Its  title  gives  no  intimation  to  the  general  reader  of  its  attractiveness  for  him,  or  to 
enrious  readers  of  its  widely  discursive  range  of  interest.  ...  Its  broad  range  may  re- 
mind one  of  those  scythe-bearing  chariots  with  which  the  ancient  Persians  used  to  mow 
down  hostile  files."—  The  Outlook. 

III. — Poetry  as  a  Representative  Art.    8vo,  cloth  extra      .       $1.75 
"I  have  read  it  with  pleasure,  and  a  sense  of  instruction  on  many  points." — Francis 
Turner  Palgrave,  Professor  of  Poetry,  Oxford  University. 

"  Dieses  ganz  vortrcffliche  Werk.'" — Rnglischen  Studien,  Universifilt  Breslau. 
"  An  acute,  interesting,  and  brilliant  piece  of  work.  ...  As  a  whole  the  essay  de- 
serves unqualified  praise."— ^V.  Y.  Independent. 

IV. — Painting,  Sculpture,  and  Architecture  as  Representing  Arts. 
With  225  illustrations.      8vo $2.50 

"  The  artist  will  find  in  it  a  wealth  of  profound  and  varied  learning;  of  original,  sug- 
gestive, helpful  thought  .  .  .  of  absolutely  inestimable  value." — The  Looker-on. 

" Expression  by  means  of  extension  or  size,  .  .  .  shape,  .  .  .  regularity  in  outlines 
.  .  .  the  human  body  .  .  .  posture,  gesture,  and  movement,  .  .  .  are  all  considered  .  .  . 
A  specially  interesting  chapter  is  the  one  on  color." — Current  Literature. 

"The  whole  book  is  the  work  of  a  man  of  exceptional  thoughtfulness,  who  says 
what  he  has  to  say  in  a  remarkably  lucid  and  direct  manner." — Philadelphia  Press. 

V.— The  Genesis  of  Art  Form.     Fully  illustrated.     8vo      .      $2.25 

"In  a  spirit  at  once  scientific  and  that  of  the  true  artist,  he  pierces  through  the  mani- 
festations of  art  to  their  sources,  and  shows  the  relations  intimate  and  essential,  between 
painting,  sculpture,  poetry,  music,  and  architecture.  A  book  that  possesses  not  only 
singular  value,  but  singular  charm." — _V.  Y.  Times. 

"A  help  and  a  delight.  Every  aspirant  for  culture  in  any  of  the  liberal  arts,  inclu- 
ding music  and  poetry,  will  find  something  in  this  book  to  aid  him."— Boston  Times. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  withhold  one's  admiration  from  a  treatise  which  exhibits  in  such 
a  large  degree  the  qualities  of  philosophic  criticism."— Philadelphia  Press. 

VI. — Rhythm  and  Harmony  in  Poetry  and  Music.  Together  with 
Music  as  a  Representative  Art.    8vo,  cloth  extra    .     $1.75 

"Professor  Raymond  has  chosen  a  delightfnl  subject,  and  he  treats  it  with  all  the 
charm  of  narrative  and  high  thought  and  profound  study."— Neio  Orleans  States. 

"The  reader  must  be,  indeed,  a  person  either  of  supernatural  stupidity  or  of  marvelous 
erudition,  who  does  not  discover  much  information  in  Prof.  Raymond's  exhaustive  and 
instructive  treatise.    From  page  to  page  it  is  full  of  suggestion."—  The  Academy  (London). 

VII. — Proportion  and  Harmony  of  Line  and  Color  in  Painting, 
Sculpture,  and  Architecture.    Fully  illustrated.    8vo   $2.50 

"Marked  by  profound  thought  along  lines  unfamiliar  to  most  readers  and  thinkers. 
.  .  .  When  grasped,  however,  it  becomes  a  source  of  great  enjoyment  and  exhilaration. 
.  .  .  No  critical  person  can  afford  to  ignore  bo  valuable  a  contribution  to  the  art-thought 
of  the  day."—  The  Art  Interchange  (N.  Y.). 

"  One  does  not  need  to  be  a  scholar  to  follow  this  scholar  as  be  teaches  while  seeming 
to  entertain,  for  he  does  both." — Burlington  Eawkeye. 

"  The  artist  who  wishes  to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  color,  the  sculptor  who  desires 
to  cultivate  his  sense  of  proportion,  or  the  architect  whose  ambition  is  to  reach  to  a  high 
standard  will  find  the  work  helpful  and  inspiring." — Boston  Transcript. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  and  London,  Publi.hera 


PROFESSOR  RAYMOND'S  POETICAL  BOORS 


A  Life  in  Song.    16mo,  cloth  extra,  gilt  top  .        .        .    $1.25 

"  Mr.  Raymond  is  a  poet,  with  all  that  the  name  implies.  He  has  the  trne  fire— there 
Is  no  disputing  that.  There  is  thought  of  an  elevated  character,  the  diction  is  pure,  the 
versification  is  true,  the  meter  correct,  and  .  .  .  affords  innumerable  quotations  to  fortify 
and  instruct  one  for  the  struggles  of  life."— Hartford  Post. 

"Marked  by  a  fertility  and  strength  of  imagination  worthy  of  oar  first  poets.  .  .  . 
The  versification  throughout  is  graceful  and  thoroughly  artistic,  the  imagery  varied  and 
spontaneous,  .  .  .  the  multitude  of  contemporary  bardlings  may  find  In  its  sincerity  of 
purpose  and  loftiness  of  aim  a  salutary  inspiration."— The  Literary  World  (Boston). 

"  Here,  for  instance,  are  lines  which,  if  printed  in  letters  of  gold  on  thefrontof  every 
pulpit,  and  practised  by  every  one  behind  one,  would  transform  the  face  of  the  theolog- 
ical world.  ...  In  short,  if  you  are  in  search  of  ideas  that  are  unconventional  and  up-to- 
date,  get  a  '  Life  in  Song,1  and  read  it."—  Unity. 

"Professor  Raymond  is  no  dabbler  in  the  "problem  of  the  human  spirit,  and  no  tyro 
in  the  art  of  word  painting  as  those  who  know  his  prose  works  can  testify.  These  pages 
contain  a  mine  of  rich  and  disciplined  reflection,  and  abound  in  beautiful  passages."— 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary  Record. 

Ballads,  and  Other  Poems.     16mo,  cloth  extra,  gilt  top     .      $1.25 

"The  author  has  achieved  a  very  unusual  success,  a  success  to  which  genuine  poetic 

Iiower  has  not  more  contributed  than  wide  reading  and  extensive  preparation.  The  bal- 
ads  overflow,  not  only  with  the  general,  but  the  very  particular,  truths  of  history." — 
Cincinnati  Times. 

"A  work  of  true  genius,  brimful  of  imagination  and  sweet  humanity." — The  Fireside 
(London). 

"  Fine  and  strong,  its  thought  original  and  suggestive,  while  its  expression  is  the 
very  perfection  of  narrative  style." — The  N.  Y.  Critic. 

"Proves  beyond  doubt  that  Mr.  Raymond  is  the  possessor  of  a  poetic  faculty  which 
is  worthy  of  the  most  careful  and  conscientious  cultivation." — jV.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

"  A  very  thoughtful  study  of  character  .  .  .  great  knowledge  of  aims  and  motives. 
.  .  .  Such  as  read  this  poem  will  derive  from  it  a  benefit  more  lasting  than  the  mere 
pleasure  of  the  moment." — The  Spectator  (London). 

The  Aztec  God  and  Other  Dramas.    16mo,  cloth  extra,  gilt  top  $1.25 

"  The  three  dramas  included  in  this  volume  represent  a  felicitous,  intense  and  melo- 
dious expression  of  art  both  from  the  artistic  and  poetic  point  of  view.  .  .  .  Mr.  Ray- 
mond's power  is  above  all  that  of  psychologist,  and  added  thereto  are  the  richest  products 
of  the  imagination  both  in  form  and  spirit.  The  book  clearly  discloses  the  work  of  a 
man  possessed  of  an  extremely  fine  critical  poise,  of  a  culture  pure  and  classical,  and 
a  sensitive  conception  of  what  is  sweetest  and  most  ravishing  in  tone-quality.  The  most 
delicately  perceptive  ear  could  not  detect  a  flaw  in  the  mellow  and  rich  music  of  the  blank 
verse." — Public  Opinioii. 

"As  fine  lines  as  are  to  be  found  anywhere  in  English.  .  .  .  Sublime  thought  fairly 
leaps  in  sublime  expression.  .  .  .  As  remarkable  for  its  force  of  epigram  as  for  its  lofti- 
ness of  conception."—  Cleveland  World. 

"...  Columbus  one  finds  a  piece  of  work  which  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  injuring  with 
fulsome  praise.  The  character  of  the  great  discoverer  is  portrayed  grandly  and  greatly. 
.  .  .  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  anyone  who  cares  for  that  which  is  best  in  literature 
.  .  .  could  fall  to  be  strengthened  and  uplifted  by  this  heroic  treatment  of  one  of  the 
great  stories  of  the  world."— N.  Y.  Press. 

Dante  and  Collected  Verse.     lGmo,  cloth  extra,  gilt  top      .      $1.25 

"  Epigram,  philosophy,  history — these  are  the  predominant  elements  .  .  .  which 
masterly  construction,  pure  diction  and  lofty  sentiment  unite  in  making  a  glowing  piece 
of  blank  verse."— Chicago  Herald. 

"  The  poems  will  be  read  with  keenest  enjoyment  by  all  who  appreciate  literary 
genius,  refined  sentiment,  and  genuine  culture.  The  publication  is  a  gem  throughout." — 
New  Haven  Leader. 

"  The  poet  and  the  reformer  contend  in  Professor  Raymond.  When  the  latter  has 
the  mastery,  we  respond  to  the  justice,  the  high  ideals,  the  truth  of  all.he  says— and  says 
with  point  and  vigor — but  when  the  poet  conquers,  the  imagination  soars.  .  .  .  The 
mountain  poems  are  the  work  of  one  with  equally  high  ideals  of  life  and  of  song." — Glas- 
gow (Scotland)  Herald. 

"Brother  Jonathan  can  not  claim  many  great  poets,  but  we  think  he  has  'struck 
oil '  in  Professor  Raymond."—  Western  (England)  Morning  News. 

"  This  brilliant  composition  .  .  .  gathers  up  and  concentrates  for  the  reader  more  of 
the  reality  of  the  great  Italian  than  is  readily  glesned  from  the  author  of  the  Inferno 
himself."—  Oakland  Enquirer. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  and  London,  Publishers 


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